Marine Science & Oceanography

The main content of this volume prepared by Judith van Leeuwen, is presenting a culmination of a very interesting and important research project performed by the author, whose intention was to thoroughly explore the idea of the environmental governance of the maritime/offshore industry, looking from the historical perspective. The book opens with some introductory information, including the general info on the marine environment, governance, research questions etc.

The following chapter of has been mainly dedicated to the changing spheres of authority in the environmental governance, while the third chapter is dealing with the research methodology while the fourth and fifth chapters address changing authority in the maritime/offshore field. The other chapter is focusing on the comparison conducted of the environmental governance of the offshore vs shipping industries. The closing chapter of the volume contains the conclusions and reflection. The main portion of the document has been supplemented with the references and several appendices, summary, info on the conceptual framework, various established methods of research plus associated questions.

The environment protection is quite a new field of research and study, and that is the basic reason why there are no too many sources of info available on the subject matters. This, in turn, is what makes the present volume so valuable to all interested persons.

In her book, Nilufer Oral has provided an excellent overview and examination of the mechanism of regional collaboration with the ultimate goal to protect and duly preserve the Black Sea's marine environment, within the frames of the relevant international legislation; in addition to that, the author performed the identification of all key components for the regional regime established on a basis of the very best legal practices available.

This volume will provide readers with a good and comprehensive overview of the modern challenges relating to the Black Sea, with the particular emphasis made on the biological diversity and fisheries, and sources of marine pollution from land and from vessels. Looking at the historical background of the regional collaboration in the above stated geographic area, we will see the comparison to the process of development of same within the international law.

The publication starts with the valuable information related to the historical development of that collaboration, followed by the chapters addressing the state of the Black Sea, and regional legal framework and marine bio-diversity in the area. Remaining chapters of the volume deal with the pollution, offshore activities that might potentially cause the pollution, current gaps in information, lessons learned and various recommendations. 

The present publication is dedicated to the random ways - the ways of this type are considered maybe the most critical constituent of the marine environment. The reason for that is that the random waves are making the process of designing the maritime and offshore structures significantly differ from the design of the structures that are located ashore.

The author of the book, Yoshimi Goda, fully explores the theoretical concept of these waves as applicable to the design of the breakwaters and seawalls, as well as of the harbor structures for easier comprehension by the practical industry engineers. All theoretical aspects involved have also been discussed. The publication is deservedly treated as a Bible on this subject since it covers the theory of the design of the maritime structures in more details than many recognized standards do.

The engineers will for sure find this volume very useful because it provides a good overview of all existing methods of description of the waves in question, with the particular attention being paid to the extreme waves. The objective of the author of this volume was twofold - to provide the engineers with the useful tool to deal with random seas, and to serve as a very practical design handbook for graduate students.

This popular publication has already been widely recognized by all lovers of ocean and all people interested in marine environment, it was published by the NGDC, i.e. National Geographic Data Center. The questions that have been selected for this book are quite typical and popular. One of the purposes of this volume is to supply the correct answers to the commonly asked questions on marine science and oceanography.

It present factual materials to be used by younger people at literally all grades with the intention to stimulate their imagination and further interest to the subject, provoking the further study. Another goal of the authors was to provide the teachers with the suitable intro to selected marine science subjects. Each of the questions and corresponding answers is followed by specific references containing some additional info on that topic.

Of course, it should be understood that the answers presented in the volume might not cover some very subtle details and relevant complexities, taking into account that the authors have tried to limit the answers with 350 words to keep the book reasonably sized. Particular attention has been paid by them to presenting the answers in a very understandable manner so that the students of secondary schools could use it easily. As a result, considerable part of the book can even be used by junior readers.

All of the practicing professionals in marine science need the easily accessible and of course accurate information readily available at any time and duly updated. This third edition of the Handbook was prepared to provide the readers with the comprehensive and useful practical reference source that would contain all critically important information considered necessary to meet all practical needs of the researchers, marine scientists and in fact of any person directly involved in the process of management of the marine resources.

The information in the handbook has been presented in a very reader-friendly manner applying the multi-sectional format - as a result, this volume offers it's readers the extensive, very informative and illustrative tabular reference material that covers literally all major areas of marine science. Among the key features of the handbook we would mention the current data tables, extensive references from the sources up to 2000, numerous data tables and illustrations, and completely revised and significantly updated text part reflecting the very latest technical knowledge.

The author of this volume has made a good attempt to highlight the inter-disciplinary nature of the marine science and covered a really wide range of interesting topics.

The book provides readers with the remarkably comprehensive explanation of the processes of photosynthesis relating to the special environment where the marine plants live. It has been evaluated by the readers as a detailed, very professional and really up-to-date publication which is nicely written and is also very easy to follow regardless if it is used by students or professionals.

In the first part of the publication the authors introduce the readers to the wide range of the existing and known photosynthesizing organisms among the sea habitats, including the algae, phytoplankton living in open sea waters, different marine angiosperms and others. The authors have also considered the evolutionary origins of the above stated marine organisms.

Then, they have discussed some of the specific properties of the sea water for sustaining the primary production, and examined the two key differences between marine and terrestrial environments in supporting both plant growth and the process of photosynthesis.

This part of the book is followed by the discussion about the needs of the plants for the enhancement of their inorganic supply of carbon, and the description of how the mechanisms concentrating such carbon dioxide function in various marine plants. The third part is dealing with the ways in which the process of photosynthesis can be treated as a proxy for the growth and productivity of marine plants.  

The present identification guide is using composite plates of photos readers with proper identification of the offshore marine wildlife, meaning the things that you can see at sea, be they sharks, whales, dolphins, birds, sea lions, or jellyfish. Once you have a name, numerous other resources will help you learn more about the creatures that inhabit the oceans. But that all-important handle, a species name, is the first step in the cascade of knowledge.

This book is an easily accessible and brief guidance covering virtually ass see mammals as well as the sea birds. The descriptions provided by the author are very clear and the photographs are clear.  The reader all around the world have already this work amazingly useful since it is quite small but yet complete. The illustrations are perfect and cover all species.

Great and easily understandable descriptions made this book so popular among the professionals and enthusiasts. In fact, this is the only guide to the offshore sea life having such a compact size, providing about three hundred images and the wording that is suitable even for the beginners. We recommend it to be used as a quick and very handy reference tool for the naturalists conducting the boat trips...

Today, the world ocean affects the lives of all people, and the author of the present volume, Tom Garrison, has made an excellent attempt to show all readers how exactly it does. He is taking readers on a very interesting exploration of the ocean, covering all important areas such as global warming and changing coastlines, zoo-plankton and plastics problem which is growing quite dangerously. The Hurricane Katrina together with earthquake in the Indian Ocean have also been addressed.

This book will be very useful for people willing to gain a good and thorough understanding of the ocean wonders and get the correct answers to the specific questions surrounding it with the remarkably fascinating text presented in the publication. The material included by the author brings the basics and goes a bit further and has been accompanied by numerous informative illustrations and images making it so easy to understand.

We would for sure say that it will be equally ideal for people first introduced to the science of oceanography and to ones trying to evolve their knowledge. The book incorporates many basic elements of geology and meteorology making a great and useful addition to the library of any person with the interest in marine science and oceanography.