Extending the Bajo de Sico, Puerto Rico, Seasonal Closure: An Examination of Small-scale Fishermen’s Perceptions of Possible Socio-economic Impacts on Fishing Practices, Families, and Community

Despite considerable conservation efforts, many reef fish fisheries around the world continue to be in peril. Many are vulnerable to overexploitation because they have predictable and highly aggregated spawning events. In U.S. Caribbean waters, fishery managers are increasingly interested in advancing the use of closed areas as a means for rebuilding reef fisheries, protecting coral reef habitats, and furthering ecosystem-based management while maintaining the sustained participation of local fishing communities. This study details small-scale fishermen’s views on the Caribbean Fishery Management Council’s proposals to lengthen the current Bajo de Sico seasonal closure off the west coast of Puerto Rico to afford additional protection to snapper-grouper spawning populations and associated coral reef habitats. Drawing on snowball sampling techniques, we interviewed 65 small-scale fishermen who regularly operate in the Bajo de Sico area. Snowball sampling is a useful method to sample difficult-to-find populations. Our analysis revealed that the majority of the respondents opposed a longer seasonal closure in the Bajo de Sico area, believing that the existing 3-month closure afforded ample protection to reef fish spawning aggregations and that their gear did not impact deep-water corals in the area. Whilst fishermen’s opposition to additional regulations was anticipated, the magnitude of the socio-economic consequences described was unexpected. Fishermen estimated that a year round closure would cause their gross household income to fall between 10% and 80%, with an average drop of 48%. Our findings suggest that policy analysts and decision-makers should strive to better understand the cumulative impacts of regulations given the magnitude of the reported socio-economic impacts; and, more importantly, they should strive to enhance the existing mechanisms by which fishermen can contribute their knowledge and perspectives into the management process.

Regional Fisheries Advisory Committee 29th April, 1974

This is the first report from the Regional Fisheries Advisory Committee meeting, which was held on the 29th April, 1974. The report looks at sections on estimates for the anticipated income and expenditure on fisheries for the current year, the structure of fisheries in the region, and a list of the fisheries in the ownership of the North West Water Authority. Also covered is information relating to fishery and sea fishery byelaws, license duties and a summary of the current activity and the future plans for the committee. The Fisheries Advisory Committee was part of the Regional Water Authorities, in this case the North West Water Authority. This preceded the Environment Agency which came into existence in 1996.

South & West Cumberland Fisheries Advisory Committee 3rd June, 1974

This is the first report from the South and West Cumberland Fisheries Advisory Committee meeting, which was held on the 3rd June 1974. The report includes sections on fishery byelaws, estimates for the anticipated income and expenditure on fisheries for the current year, and fish mortality. The section on fish mortality includes the details of a fish kill on the River Marron, gives points along the river where water was sampled, and the results of the analysis. The Fisheries Advisory Committee was part of the Regional Water Authorities, in this case the North West Water Authority. This preceded the Environment Agency which came into existence in 1996.

Eden Fisheries Advisory Committee 4th June, 1974

This is the first report from the Eden Fisheries Advisory Committee meeting, which was held on the 4th June 1974. The report includes sections on fishery byelaws, estimates for the anticipated income and expenditure on fisheries for the current year, licence duties, the Nursery Stream Project and Holmewrangle hatchery. The section on the Nursery Stream Project includes the reasons for undertaking the project, and the details of the project. The section on the Holmewrangle hatchery looks at low survival rates and reasons for mortality for 1973/1974. The Fisheries Advisory Committee was part of the Regional Water Authorities, in this case the North West Water Authority. This preceded the Environment Agency which came into existence in 1996.

Lune, Wyre & Furness Fisheries Advisory Committee 6th June, 1974

This is the first report from the Lune, Wyre and Furness Fisheries Advisory Committee meeting, which was held on the 6th June 1974. The report includes sections on fishery byelaws, estimates for the anticipated income and expenditure on fisheries for the current year, the arrangements for the release of freshets to the River Leven in times of drought, and the utilisation of water resources. This section looks at proposed abstractions for the River Lune and Wyre, and the Ullswater and Windermere Pumping Stations. The Fisheries Advisory Committee was part of the Regional Water Authorities, in this case the North West Water Authority. This preceded the Environment Agency which came into existence in 1996.

South Lancashire Advisory Committee 10th June, 1974

This is the first report from the South Lancashire Fisheries Advisory Committee meeting, which was held on the 10th June 1974. The report includes sections on fishery byelaws, estimates for the anticipated income and expenditure on fisheries for the current year, and information includeing the aims of a report entitled 'Taking Stock', which looked at migratory fish in England and Wales. The Fisheries Advisory Committee was part of the Regional Water Authorities, in this case the North West Water Authority. This preceded the Environment Agency which came into existence in 1996.

Mersey & Weaver Advisory Committee 12th June, 1974

This is the first report from the Mersey and Weaver Fisheries Advisory Committee meeting, which was held on the 12th June 1974. The report includes sections on fishery byelaws, estimates for the anticipated income and expenditure on fisheries for the current year, information including the aims of a report entitled 'Taking Stock', licence duties, the need of a Coarse Fish Unit and pollution. The Fisheries Advisory Committee was part of the Regional Water Authorities, in this case the North West Water Authority. This preceded the Environment Agency which came into existence in 1996.

Scoping report: current status of index-based insurance in Bangladesh

With current and anticipated increases in magnitude of extreme weather events and a declining consistency in weather patterns, particularly challenging for agriculture, there has been a growing interest in weather index-based insurance (IBI) schemes in Bangladesh. A number of weather index-based insurance products have already been tested and applied across Asia and Africa, with varying degrees of success, as a mechanism to improve livelihood security by enabling vulnerable populations to transfer risk associated with climate change, extreme weather events and other hazards. In the process, these efforts have generated important new knowledge on how these schemes can be designed and implemented for optimal results. However, the practice of index-based insurance is still limited in Bangladesh, and the experience and knowledge generated by the different stakeholders involved needs to be better communicated.

1988 summer drought over the Great Plains: some causes and predictions

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): The 1988 summer drought over much of the United States is described in terms of hemispheric mid-tropospheric flow patterns, temperature and precipitation anomalies, and sea surface temperature patterns. This drought was similar to earlier Great Plains droughts, although spatially more extensive than most. Three attempts to predict this drought from antecedent spring were moderately successful, though no one anticipated its severity and extent. ... A modified barotropic model iterating from a mean summer estimate of seasonal forcing from the May mid-tropospheric height pattern was reasonably successful in forecasting the drought. Sea surface temperature indications show that cold water (La Niña) along the equator subsequent to the 1987 El Niño, while contributory, cannot be considered a principal cause of the drought, since earlier cold water episodes did not produce drought, and other drought episodes occurred in the absence of cold equatorial waters.

Interpreting long-term fish landings records: environment and/or exploitation?

The California Department of Fish and Game data base of California commercial fish landings for the period 1928 to 1985 has been assembled in computer accessible form at the Pacific Fisheries Environmental Group in Monterey, California. Time series for fishes whose landings are known to vary during periods of ocean warming were compared to time series of sea surface temperature. Expected patterns of variation were confirmed in the seasonal cycle, but were less clear on the interannual scale. When interannual variation was considered, the most serious hindrance to interpretation of the landings series appeared to be the continued reduction of the fish stocks due to commercial exploitation; other factors are discussed. Landings data contain information potentially useful in climatological studies, but problems should be anticipated in their use.

Wadge Bank trawl fishery studies. Pt. 5. Rational exploitation of the resident demersal stock

The general history of the trawl fishery of the Wadge Bank off Cape Comorin, South India (Fig. 1), the nature and composition of its demersal fish population, and the present state of its fishery has been given by various authors (Malpas 1926, Pearson and Malpas 1926, Sivalingam and Medcof 1957, Medcof 1963, Mendis 1965a, 1965b, Sivalingam 1966a, 1966b, 1969a and 1969b). It has been shown earlier (Sivalingam and Medcof 1957, Sivalingam 1969a) that the Wadge Bank stock is made up of two groups. The resident stock which is present on the fishing grounds throughout the year and the migrant stock that appears on the fishing grounds only during the southwest monsoon months. The object of this paper is to discuss the effect of fishing on the resident stock between 1945 and 1962 and based on the information available; assess the maximum sustained yield of the resident stock. The "Bigfish" of the resident stock is the mainstay of the Wadge Bank trawl fishery (Sivalingam 1969a) and it will be shown that this stock has been overexploited from 1953 to 1957. The first sign of recovery was evident in 1960 and continued till 1962. The data since 1962 are not available to the author for analysis. It has been reported by Mendis (1965b) that considerable expansion of the trawler fleet was anticipated in 1966, and if so, the history of the fishery from 1953 to 1957 may be repeated. The assessment presented in this paper should form a rational basis for management programs.

Environmental and social impact monitoring of the Bujagali Hydropower Project (BHPP), Uganda Fisheries Component: monthly patterns in physico-chemical conditions and fish catch in the immediate vicinity of the Bujagali Hydropower construction site, 29th September - 28th October 2007

Following the commencement of construction works of a 250 MW hydropower plant at Dumbbell Island in the Upper Victoria Nile in September 2007, BEL requested NaFIRRI to conduct continuous monitoring of fish catches at two transects i.e. the immediate upstream transect of the project site (Kalange-Makwanzi) and the immediate downstream .transect (Buyala-Kikubamutwe). The routine monitoring surveys were designed to be conducted twice a week at each of the tWo transects. It was anticipated that major immediate impacts were to occur during construction, and these needed to be known by BEL as part of a mitigation strategy. For example, the construction of it cofferdam could be accompanied by rapid changes in water quality and quantity downstream of the construction. These changes in turn could affect the fish catch and would probably be missed by the quarterly monitoring already in place. Therefore, a major cbjective of the more regular and rapid monitoring was to discern immediate impacts of construction activities by focusing on selected water quality parameters (total suspended solids, water conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH) and fish catch characteristics (total catch, catch rates and value of the catch)

Quality loss in prawns due to double freezing

Icing is the practice for preserving prawns on board fishing boats in India. Majority of these boats need to preserve the catch only for a few hours because of the short duration of the fishing trip. However, with the anticipated introduction of a considerable number of bigger fishing vessels which can remain in the fishing ground for longer periods, more than fortnight, preservation methods, other than icing are required to retain prime quality. Freezing and cold storage of whole prawns on board followed by thawing and processing on land is a possible proposition. The extent of quality loss in prawns during these operations is one of the important points to be considered. Hence, laboratory scale studies were undertaken on double freezing of prawns and the results are dealt within this communication.

Exploring Indonesian aquaculture futures

Aquaculture is the fastest-growing food production sector globally, with production projected to double within the next 15–20 years. Future growth of aquaculture is essential to providing sustainable supplies of fish in national, regional and global fish food systems; creating jobs; and maintaining fish at affordable levels for resource-poor consumers. To ensure that the anticipated growth of aquaculture remains both economically and ecologically sustainable, we need to better understand the likely patterns of growth, as well as the opportunities and challenges, that these trends present. This knowledge will enable us to better prioritize investments that will help ensure the sustainable development of the sector. In Indonesia, WorldFish and partners have applied a unique methodology to evaluate growth trajectories for aquaculture under various scenarios, as well as the opportunities and challenges these represent. Indonesia is currently the fourth largest aquaculture producer globally, and the sector needs to grow to meet future fish demand. The study overlapped economic and environmental models with quantitative and participatory approaches to understand the future of aquaculture in Indonesia. Such analyses, while not definitive, have provided new understanding of the future supply and demand for seafood in Indonesia stretching to 2030. The learning from this research provides a foundation for future interventions in Indonesian fish food systems, as well as a suite of methodologies that can be applied more widely for insightful analyses of aquaculture growth trajectories in other countries or regions.

A conceptualized fishing system for the African environment with a comparative approach

The paper examines a conceptualized fishing system for the African Environment with a comparative approach. Although the fishing system has been conceived as a bio-economic complex, emphasis will be given to the explanation of the detailed structure and functioning of the system. Subsequent synthesis involving the use of existing relationships for management etc. will also be undertaken. The proposed fishing system is conceptually feasible in an ideal environment with adequate monitored data and organized fishing, however it is anticipated that the African environment will not satisfy such conditions.