Teaching Students to Evaluate E-Reference Sources with Moodle Forums

This presentation will describe the use of online forums in Moodle, a course management system, to teach students to evaluate both print and electronic reference sources. For two semesters I have created an online forum called the Fishing Hole Scouting Report for an in-class exercise. Students are given 2-3 background questions and told to find the answers using both a library-approved reference source and Wikipedia. Students then evaluate the reference source for effectiveness and ease of use, compared to Wikipedia, and post their comments in the forum to share with the class. I will highlight the educational benefits of using Moodle forums for this purpose and discuss best practices for selecting the most effective sources and questions.

Community-based fish culture in seasonal floodplains

During the rainy season in extensive river floodplains and deltaic lowlands, floods render the land unavailable for crop production for several months each year. These waters are considerably underutilized in terms of managed aquatic productivity. This raises the opportunity to enclose parts of these floodwater areas to produce a crop of specifically stocked aquatic organisms aside from the naturally occurring ‘wild’ species that are traditionally fished and are not affected by the culture activity, resulting in more high-quality, nutrient-dense food production and enhanced farm income for all stakeholders, notably the poor. The WorldFish Center and its national partners recently tested the concurrent rice-fish culture in the shallower flooded areas and the alternating rice-fish culture in the deep-flooded areas of Bangladesh and Viet Nam through a community-based management system. Results indicate that community-based fish culture in rice fields can increase fish production by about 600 kg/ha/year in shallow flooded areas and up to 1.5 t/ha/year in deep-flooded areas, without a reduction in the rice yield or wild fish catch.

Fisheries rehabilitation in post-tsunami Aceh: Status and needs from participatory appraisals

The widespread and long-term nature of the tsunami damage in Aceh province, Indonesia has threatened the continued use of coastal and fisheries resources. This article describes the application of the Rapid Appraisal of Fisheries Management System (RAFMS) methodology and presents key findings from the participatory appraisals in 15 study sites. The focus is on changes in the number and types of fishing boats and fishing effort, consumption and marketing flow patterns and community perspectives on livelihood options. The level of aid (for new boats), mainly from international organizations, has been unevenly distributed with the number of boats in 13 of 15 villages still being well below the pre-tsunami levels. A focus on supplying small vessels may put increased fishing pressure on the near-shore zone. Consumption data and marketing flows suggest that most fishing villages are supplying outside markets and adding considerably to the wider food security of the province. Despite the tsunami, marine fisheries-related livelihoods are still preferred, although there are indications for the potential expansion of livelihoods into the culture of new species. Alternative resource-based livelihoods need to be tested and refined to fit the needs of the current conditions in Aceh to provide viable options for eliminating hunger and reducing poverty.

Evaluating the efficacy of managing West Coast groundfish resources through simulations

Management of West Coast groundfish resources by the Pacific Fishery Management Council involves Federal government and academic scientists conducting stock assessments, generally using the stock synthesis framework, applying the 40-10 rule to determine harvest guidelines for resources that are not overfished and conducting rebuilding analyses to determine harvest guidelines for resources that have been designated as overfished. However, this management system has not been evaluated in terms of its ability to satisfy the National Standard 1 goals of the Sustainable Fisheries Act. A Monte Carlo simulation framework is therefore outlined that can be used to make such evaluations. Based on simulations tailored to a situation similar to that of managing the widow rockfish (Sebastes entomelas) resource, it is shown that catches during recovery and thereafter are likely to be highly variable (up to ±30% from one year to the next). Such variability is far greater than has been presented to the decision makers to date. Reductions in interannual variability in catches through additional data collection are, however, unlikely. Rather, improved performance will probably arise from better methods for predicting future recruitment. Rebuilding analyses include quantities such as the year to which the desired probability of recovery applies. The estimates of such quantities are, however, very poorly determined.

Observation on some of the environmental parameters and feed quality of selected golda (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) farms in Bangladesh

A study was conducted to ascertain the existing farm water, effluent and feed quality of selected giant freshwater prawn farms from major prawn farming areas (Bagerhat Sadar, Noakhali Sadar and Mymensingh) of Bangladesh during July to November 2005. Water quality parameters such as the mean values of dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, nitrite-nitrogen, phosphate-phosphorus and ammoniacal nitrogen did not show any significantly differences among the farming areas. Whereas significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed in the mean values of temperature, secchi disc visibility, pH and chlorophyll a. However, all the water quality parameters in the farming areas were within the suitable range for prawn culture. There was no significant variation in nutrients concentration of discharged effluent among the prawn farming areas. All of the nutrients measured in effluent water were within the acceptable range and did not seem to pose a direct threat to the recipient environment. The analysed crude protein contents of commercial CP, Quality and Saudi-Bangla prawn feeds were 31.84%, 27.21% and 28.97%, respectively, whereas all analysed farm made feeds were less than 25%. The other nutrients of prawn feeds varied largely with the source of feeds and ingredients used to prepare feed. The annual yield of prawn varied from 320.4 to 512.6 kg/ha (mean 412.3 kg/ha) depending on the management system.

Beel fishery and livelihood of the local community in Rajdhala, Netrakona, Bangladesh

Baseline survey and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) during January 2003 to December 2004 on the fishing community revealed that unregulated fishing, use of destructive fishing gears, poaching of fishes, difficulties encountered in enforcing fisheries regulation and the helplessness of fishers to find alternative sources of income during banned fishing period (June to October) were the major management problems. CBFM (Community Based Fisheries Management) system as an alternative management strategy has been introduced to ensure active participation of the target group-the poor fishers living around the beet who were previously deprived to get access to the beet. Establishing a leasing system for controlled access, ensuring greater user-group participation through equitable distribution of all resource benefits among members, attempting to enforce penalties for illegal fishing linked with surprise checks to enforce management regulations are some of the recent steps taken by the BMC (Beel Management Committee). Chapila fish intake by the community was 31.25 g/head/day before stocking the beel by carp fingerlings. After stocking, they consumed chapila as fish protein from 8.33 g to 20.8 g/head/day during the fishing season (November to May) indicating that due to introduction of carp fingerlings, chapila production has been decreased in 2003-2004. About 77.5% families around the beel were found to be dependent directly and/or indirectly on chapila and other indigenous fishes of the beel for their livelihood, through fishing, marketing and other activities like net and boat preparation and nets mending etc. Particularly fishers' families were found to face serious problem during non-fishing period like June to October for their livelihood. Analyzing the present research result it was also observed that other than declination in biodiversity, the fishing pressure on promising chapila of the beel was found high and that is why the production of chapila has also been decreased. To get sustainable chapila production from the heel, it is suggested to ensure successful spawning and recruitment as juveniles, and hence the chapila should be undisturbed during its breeding period from March to July, and fishing pressure on the same species needs to be reduced for obtaining sustainable fish production.

Survival, growth and production of Penaeus monodon and P. indicus at different density combinations with milkfish

Penaeus monodon and P. indicus juveniles were stocked and reared for about 3 months in earthen ponds at different density combinations with Chanos chanos. The presence of either Penaeus species at any density ratio did not affect significantly the C. chanos survival. Survival rates of the penaeids indicated that intraspecific and interspecific competition occurred and were reduced with the reduction in stocking rate. It is concluded that further studies on higher density ratios and feeding and economic consideration would be of help to the development of this kind of fishpond management system.