Integrating remote sensing products and GIS tools to support marine spatial management in West Hawai'i

Marine protected areas (MPAs) represent a form of spatial management, and geospatial information on living marine resources and associated habitat is extremely important to support best management practices in a spatially discrete MPA. Benthic habitat maps provide georeferenced information on the geomorphic structure and biological cover types in the marine environment. This information supports an enhanced understanding of ecosystem function and species habitat utilization patterns. Benthic habitat maps are most useful for marine management and spatial planning purposes when they are created at a scale that is relevant to management actions. We sought to improve the resolution of existing benthic habitat maps created during a regional mapping effort in Hawai`i. Our results complemented these existing regional maps and provided more detailed, finer-scale habitat maps for a network of MPAs in West Hawai`i. The map products created during this study allow local planners and managers to extract information at a spatial scale relevant to the discrete management units, and appropriate for local marine management efforts on the Kona Coast. The resultant benthic habitat maps were integrated in a geographic information system (GIS) that also included aerial imagery, underwater video, MPA regulations, summarized ecological data and other relevant and spatially explicit information. The integration of the benthic habitat maps with additional “value added” geospatial information into a dynamic GIS provide a decision support tool with pertinent marine resource information available in one central location and support the application of a spatial approach to the management of marine resources. Further, this work can serve as a case study to demonstrate the integration of remote sensing products and GIS tools at a fine spatial scale relevant to local-level marine spatial planning and management efforts.

Trade secrets: a ten year overview of the illegal import of sea turtle products into the United States

For more than 25 years all sea turtle products have been prohibited from international commerce by the 170-member nations of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Sea turtles continue to be threatened by direct take (including poaching) and illegal trade despite multi-national protection efforts. Although take may contribute significantly to sea turtle decline, illegal take is difficult to measure since there are few quantified records associated with legal fisheries and fewer still for illegal take (poaching). We can, however, quantify one portion of the illegal sea turtle trade by determining how many illegal products were seized at United States ports of entry over a recent 10-year period. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) oversees the import and export of wildlife and wildlife products, ensuring that wildlife trade complies with United States laws and international treaties. Additionally, the USFWS has legal authority to target suspected illegal wildlife activity through undercover and field investigations. In an effort to assess the scale of illegal sea turtle take and trade, we have conducted a 10-year (1994 – 2003) review of the law enforcement database maintained by the USFWS. This database tracks the number and type of wildlife cases, the quantity of seized products, and the penalties assessed against violators. These data are minimum estimates of the sea turtle products passing through the United States borders, as smuggled wildlife is oftentimes not detected.

Culture of Moina micrura on various organic waste products

Moina micrura, a cladoceran species, is considered to be one of the best live food organisms for rearing the young larval stages of fish and prawn. Considering the importance of this species in hatchery operations the present study was undertaken to record its fecundity and life span and to culture it using different locally available organic waste products. In indoor culture, a maximum production of 2600 ind/1 and a minimum of 1050 ind/1 were obtained when treated with gram + maize oilcake and "till" oilcake respectively. In outdoor culture, a highest production of 6000 ind/1 was achieved with "Alsi" and "till" oilcakes and a lowest density of 1050 ind/1 with coconut oilcake and raw cattle dung was obtained with an inoculation rate of 5 ind/1.

Faecal indicator organisms in frozen prawn products. Pt. 2. Survival of the organisms during freezing and frozen storage

The rate of survival of different types of faecal indicator organisms like Escherichia coli, enterococci etc. during freezing and frozen storage has been studied. Peeled and deveined prawns inoculated with a mixed culture of the above organisms were subjected to freezing and storage at -10̊F and examined for over four months.

On a rational criterion for assigning batch number to processed products of shrimps

Investigations were conducted to find the variability of processed shrimps with respect to two quality characteristics, namely, the numbers of deteriorated and discoloured pieces. Samples were collected for three days from two arbitrarily selected processing factories from Cochin at the pre-freezing stages. Results show that both the quality characteristics vary significantly between different size-grades, but while the variation in the number of deteriorated pieces between days is not significant, the variation in the number of discoloured pieces between days is significant.

Studies on the use of alginates in frozen fishery products

Results of preliminary studies on the use of sodium alginate as a protective coating for fishery products showed that several varieties of fishes and shell fish had better keeping qualities when coated with sodium alginate.

Faecal indicator organisms in frozen prawn products. Pt. 1. Incidence and general distribution

A general survey carried out on several brands of frozen prawn products has shown that along with the standard plate count (SPC), the numbers of pathogenic organisms like Escherichia coli, enterococci and coagulase positive staphylococci have also to be taken into consideration for the evaluation of the quality of these products. No correlation could be established between the total plate count and the number of E. coli, enterococci or staphylococci. Enumeration of enterococci, however, is advocated as a better index of faecal contamination of the products than E. coli.