SCIENCE sciencemag.org 5 JUNE 2020 • VOL 368 ISSUE 6495 1075
ecological knowledge of local fishers ( 3 )
and field surveys ( 4 ) add to the evidence
that part or all of the South China Sea is an
important cetacean area with high species
diversity that deserves special conservation
attention but has been previously over-
looked ( 5 ). Overfishing, together with other
anthropogenic activities in the South China
Sea, is putting cetaceans in grave danger.
The South China Sea contains lucrative
fisheries ( 6 , 7 ). However, in recent decades,
illegal, unreported, and unregulated fish-
ing has led to region-wide overfishing
( 6 , 7 ), posing a major threat to cetaceans
( 8 ). Overfishing limits cetaceans’ nutri-
tion through prey depletion ( 9 ) and is
closely tied to vessel strikes and bycatch
of hundreds of thousands of cetaceans
( 10 , 11 ). Many fishing vessels also produce
underwater noises that damage cetaceans’
hearing and disturb their behavior, causing
disorientation ( 12 ). As a result, cetaceans
could disappear from the South China Sea
if no conservation actions are taken.
Cetaceans are important megafauna
and valuable marine biological resources;
saving them is vital to maintaining
marine biodiversity and ecosystems.
Communication with the wider science,
conservation, and policy communities
about the need to conserve cetaceans
in the South China Sea is the first step
toward raising awareness and inciting
policy changes by regional governments
to manage and regulate fisheries and
other anthropogenic activities. Meanwhile,
regional governments should invest
in research to investigate and identify
important cetacean areas in the South
China Sea, independent of any political
or socioeconomic concerns. This research
can inform the design and management
of marine protected areas, where guide-
lines or regulations are needed to control
anthropogenic activities, including fishing.
Finally, the migratory nature of both fishes
and cetaceans requires all South China
Sea claimant nations to realize that they
have a legal obligation to cooperate on
fisheries management. National plans of
action against illegal, unreported, and
unregulated fishing need to be harmonized
throughout the region, which will both
safeguard the food security and livelihoods
of the communities in and around the
South China Sea and protect vulnerable
cetaceans from continued harm.
Songhai Li1,2*, Mingli Lin^1 , Francesco Caruso^1 ,
Lijun Dong^1 , Wenzhi Lin^1 , Massimiliano Rosso1,3,
Alessandro Bocconcelli1,4
(^1) Marine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics
Laboratory, Institute of Deep-sea Science and
Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Sanya, 572000, China.^2 Tropical Marine Science
Institute, National University of Singapore,
119227, Singapore.^3 CIMA Research Foundation,
Savona, 17100, Italy.^4 Advanced Ocean Physics
and Engineering Department, Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution , Woods Hole, MA
02543, USA.
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
REFERENCES AND NOTES
- P. Wang, Ed., Chinese Cetaceans (Chemical Industry
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10.1126/science.abc7557Tenure and promotion
after the pandemic
To compensate for declines in productivity
induced by the pandemic, many universi-
ties have automatically extended tenure
clocks by 1 year ( 1 ). This move is necessary
but not sufficient. Tenure clock extensions
disadvantage some groups. For example,
in economics, women on longer clocks
due to parental leave get tenure at lower
rates than men ( 2 ). Many men use leave to
produce articles, whereas women are more
likely to care for children. Tenure commit-
tees often fail to account for differences in
how leave time is spent. The coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic will
produce additional inequalities. Stay-at-
home and public safety orders preclude
some research, such as human subjects and
laboratory work, while creating opportuni-
ties for others. Now is the time to develop
strategies to mitigate the inequitable
effects of the quarantine.
External reviewers and tenure and
promotion committees should make three
adjustments to the evaluation process.
First, they should instruct candidates to
pick the 6 best years of their record and
require that evaluators and committees
assess only the quality and impact of
research, teaching, and service from those
years, not the total years after completing
their Ph.D. (or after attaining tenure, in the
case of full professors). Second, evaluatorsshould require a COVID-19 impact state-
ment that explains the research, teaching,
and service that candidates were able or
unable to do, infrastructural or financial
constraints, and obligations including
child and elder care. Third, reviewers and
committees should consider qualitative
and holistic assessments in addition to
quantitative evaluations such as number
of publications, citations, impact factors,
research expenditures, and teaching scores.
These indicators could potentially carry
even more biases after COVID-19 ( 3 – 6 ).
Let’s treat the pandemic as an opportunity
to adopt new standards for advancement
that are fair to caregivers and people with
diverse research agendas.
Mala Htun
Department of Political Science, University of
New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA. Email:
[email protected]REFERENCES AND NOTES- L. Scungio, “Adapting in times of crisis: Navigating ten-
ure clock stoppage,” Collaborative on Academic Careers
in Higher Education (blog) (2020); https://coache.gse.
harvard.edu/blog/adapting-times-crisis-navigating-
tenure-clock-stoppage. - H. Antecol, K. Bedard, J. Stearns, Am. Econ. Rev. 108 ,
2420 (2018). - M. L. Dion, J. L. Sumner, S. McLaughlin Mitchell, Polit.
Anal. 26 , 312 (2018). - D. L. Teele, K. Thelen, PS: Polit. Sci. Polit. 50 , 433 (2017).
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535 (2019). - F. R. Jensenius et al., PS Polit. Sci. Polit. 51 , 820 (2018).
10.1126/science.abc7469TECHNICAL COMMENT ABSTRACTS
Comment on “RNA-guided DNA insertion
with CRISPR-associated transposases”
Phoebe A. Rice, Nancy L. Craig, Fred Dyda
Strecker et al. (Research Article, 5 July 2019,
p. 48) described a system for exploiting a
Tn7-type transposon-encoded CRISPR-Cas
system to make RNA-guided, programmable
insertions. Although this system has great
promise, we note that the well-established
biochemistry of Tn7 suggests that the par-
ticular system used may insert not only the
transposon but also the entire donor plasmid.
Full text: dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abb2022Response to Comment on “RNA-guided DNA
insertion with CRISPR-associated transposases”
Jonathan Strecker, Alim Ladha, Kira S. Makarova,
Eugene V. Koonin, Feng Zhang
Rice et al. suggest that the CRISPR-
associated transposase ShCAST system
could lead to additional insertion products
beyond simple integration of the donor. We
clarify the outcomes of ShCAST-mediated
insertions in Escherichia coli, which consist
of both simple insertions and integration of
the donor plasmid. This latter outcome can
be avoided by use of a 5′ nicked DNA donor.
Full text: dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abb2920INSIGHTSPublished by AAAS