Little known parts of Panama

An account of Pittier's travels around Panama. Written as a travel guide, Pittier describes the flora and fauna of the different regions as well as the topography, people and geology of the area.

Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Area to be Avoided (ATBA) Education and Monitoring Program

The National Marine Sanctuaries Act (16 U.S.C. 1431, as amended) gives the Secretary of Commerce the authority to designate discrete areas of the marine environment as National Marine Sanctuaries and provides the authority to promulgate regulations to provide for the conservation and management of these marine areas. The waters of the Outer Washington Coast were recognized for their high natural resource and human use values and placed on the National Marine Sanctuary Program Site Evaluation List in 1983. In 1988, Congress directed NOAA to designate the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (Pub. L. 100-627). The Sanctuary, designated in May 1994, worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to request the International Maritime Organization designate an Area to be Avoided (ATBA) on the Olympic Coast. The IMO defines an ATBA as "a routeing measure comprising an area within defined limits in which either navigation is particularly hazardous or it is exceptionally important to avoid casualties and which should be avoided by all ships, or certain classes of ships" (IMO, 1991). This ATBA was adopted in December 1994 by the Maritime Safety Committee of the IMO, “in order to reduce the risk of marine casualty and resulting pollution and damage to the environment of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary”, (IMO, 1994). The ATBA went into effect in June 1995 and advises operators of vessels carrying petroleum and/or hazardous materials to maintain a 25-mile buffer from the coast. Since that time, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS) has created an education and monitoring program with the goal of ensuring the successful implementation of the ATBA. The Sanctuary enlisted the aid of the U.S. and Canadian coast guards, and the marine industry to educate mariners about the ATBA and to use existing radar data to monitor compliance. Sanctuary monitoring efforts have targeted education on tank vessels observed transiting the ATBA. OCNMS's monitoring efforts allow quantitative evaluation of this voluntary measure. Finally, the tools developed to monitor the ATBA are also used for the more general purpose of monitoring vessel traffic within the Sanctuary. While the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary does not currently regulate vessel traffic, such regulations are within the scope of the Sanctuary’s Final Environmental Impact Statement/Management Plan. Sanctuary staff participate in ongoing maritime and environmental safety initiatives and continually seek opportunities to mitigate risks from marine shipping.(PDF contains 44 pages.)

Laboratory guide to early life history stages of northeast Pacific fishes

This laboratory guide presents taxonomic information on eggs and larvae of fishes of the Northeast Pacific Ocean (north of California) and the eastern Bering Sea. Included are early-life-history series, illustrations, and comparative descriptions of 232 species expected to spawn here, out of a total 627 species known to occur in marine waters of this area. Meristic and general life-history data are included, as well as diagnostic characters to help identify eggs and larvae. Most of this information has been gleaned from literature, with the addition of 200 previously unpublished illustrations. (PDF file contains 654 pages.)

Artisanal canoe fishing industry of the Rivers State: its economic viability and investment potentials

Consequent upon the present national call in Nigeria for all to go back to agriculture including fishing, most retrenched workers and unemployed youths from the riverine areas are taking up fishing as a legitimate and gainful livelihood. To sustain this tempo and attract more investment, the economic viability of such projects must be known. This study is an attempt to document the profitability and investment potential of artisanal canoe fishing. Socio-economic information including catches, operational cost and returns were obtained through a personal interview questionnaire survey of 240 randomly selected artisanal canoe fishermen from Bonny, Brass and Degema Local Government Areas (LGA) of the State and analyzed. With an investment cost of about 8,135, 8,490 and 6,571 and operation cost of 750, 776 and 627, the analysis showed an average monthly gross income of 1,869, 3,221 and 1,775 for the three local government areas respectively. A benefit-cost-ratio of 1:8, net present value of 400, 603 and internal rate of return greater than 50% were obtained. Since capital invested in fisheries is not tied up for long before benefits start flowing, coupled with the high IRR, it is concluded that artisanal canoe fishing would be an economically viable venture if well managed

River Lune salmon action plan March 1997. Draft Copy.

The River Lune was at one time one of the best salmon fisheries in England and Wales with very high catches to both rods and netsmen. During the 1960's, the stock was decimated by the disease Ulcerative Dermal Necrosis which caused a dramatic reduction in catches. Catches have not recovered to pre-disease levels. The target egg deposition rate for the River Lune system which should produce the maximum number of surplus fish returning to the system has been determined at 13.8 million eggs. This will require 4,779 adult salmon to survive to successfully spawn. Under current rates of exploitation, the target egg deposition will occur at a declared rod catch of 1,974 salmon and a net catch of 2,627 salmon. Two automatic fish counters are in operation on the river system. Data from these suggest that, within the measures of compliance, the river has met it's target egg deposition for the last 3 years.

Severe droughts reduce estuarine primary productivity with cascading effects on higher trophic levels

Using a 10-yr time-series data set, we analyzed the effects of two severe droughts on water-quality and ecosystem processes in a temperate, eutrophic estuary (Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina). During the droughts, dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations were on average 46–68% lower than the long-term mean due to reduced riverine input. Phytoplankton productivity and biomass were slightly below average for most of the estuary during a spring–autumn drought in 2002, but were dramatically lower than average throughout the estuary during an autumn–winter drought in 2007–2008. Droughts affected upper trophic levels through alteration of both habitat condition (i.e., bottom-water dissolved oxygen levels) and food availability. Bottomwater dissolved oxygen levels were near or slightly above average during the 2002 drought and during summer 2007. Concomitant with these modest improvements in bottom-water oxygen condition, fish kills were greatly reduced relative to the long-term average. Low-oxygen bottom-water conditions were more pronounced during summer 2008 in the latter stages of the 2007–2008 drought, and mesozooplankton abundances were eight-fold lower in summer 2008 than during nondrought years. Below-average mesozooplankton abundances persisted for well over 1 yr beyond cessation of the drought. Significant fish kills were observed in summer 2008 and 2009, perhaps due to the synergistic effects of hypoxia and reduced food availability. These results indicate that droughts can exert both ephemeral and prolonged multiyear influence on estuarine ecosystem processes and provide a glimpse into the future, when many regions of the world are predicted to face increased drought frequency and severity due to climate change.

Age and growth of the blue shark (Prionace glauca) in the North Atlantic Ocean

Age and growth estimates for the blue shark (Prionace glauca) were derived from 411 vertebral centra and 43 tag-recaptured blue sharks collected in the North Atlantic, ranging in length from 49 to 312 cm fork length (FL). The vertebrae of two oxytetracycline-injected recaptured blue sharks support an annual spring deposition of growth bands in the vertebrae in sharks up to 192 cm FL. Males and females were aged to 16 and 15 years, respectively, and full maturity is attained by 5 years of age in both sexes. Both sexes grew similarly to age seven, when growth rates decreased in males and remained constant in females. Growth rates from tag-recaptured individuals agreed with those derived from vertebral annuli for smaller sharks but appeared overestimated for larger sharks. Von Bertalanffy growth parameters derived from vertebral length-at-age data are L∞ = 282 cm FL, K = 0.18, and t0 = –1.35 for males, and L∞ = 310 cm FL, K = 0.13, and t0 = −1.77 for females. The species grows faster and has a shorter life span than previously reported for these waters.

Age and growth of the swordfish (Xiphias gladius L.) in the waters around Taiwan determined from anal-fin rays

Age and growth of the swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in Taiwan waters was studied from counts of growth bands on cross sections of the second ray of the first anal fin. Data on lower jaw fork length and weight, and samples of the anal fin of male and female swordfish were collected from three offshore and coastal tuna longline fishing ports on a monthly basis between September 1997 and March 1999. In total, 685 anal fins were collected and 627 of them (293 males and 334 females) were aged successfully. The lower jaw fork lengths of the aged individuals ranged from 83.4 to 246.6 cm for the females and from 83.3 to 206 cm for the males. The radii of the fin rays and growth bands on the cross sections were measured under a dissecting microscope equipped with an image analysis system. Trends in the monthly marginal increment ratio indicated that growth bands formed once a year. Thus, the age of each fish was deter-mined from the number of visible growth bands. Two methods were used to estimate and compare the standard and the generalized von Bertalanffy growth parameters for both males and females. The nonlinear least square estimates of the generalized von Bertalanffy growth parameters in method II, in which a power function was used to describe the relationship between ray radius and LJFL, were recommended as most acceptable. There were significant differences in growth parameters between males and females. The growth parameters estimated for females were the following: asymptotic length (L∞) = 300.66 cm, growth coefficient (K) = 0.040/yr, age at zero length (t0) = –0.75 yr, and the fitted fourth parameter (m) = –0.785. The growth parameters estimated for males were the following: asymptotic length (L∞) = 213.05 cm, growth coefficient (K) = 0.086/yr, age at zero length (t0) = –0.626 yr, and the fitted fourth parameter (m) = –0.768.

Study of physicochemical, microbial and sensory properties of surimi produced from black mouth croaker (Atrobucca nibe) at freezing condition (-18ºC)

Black mouth croaker (Atrobucca nibe) is considered as a new valuable fish stock in the Oman Sea. In this study, surimi was manufactured from nonmarket size of the fish, manually and different cryoprotectant agents were added to the surimi. Finally changes in physiochemical, microbiological and sensory quality, characteristics of the surimi and kamaboko gel samples were assessed during 6 months at freezing storage (-18ºC). Surimi samples with the addition of Iranian tragacanth gum (TG), xanthan gum (XG), chitosan (CS) and whey protein concentrate (WPC) at 1% (w/w) were prepared to evaluate their impacts as a cryoprotectant on the surimi, individually. The results showed that the whiteness and lightness indexes in all surimi samples were gradually decreased during frozen storage. This trend of decreasing was more intensity in the control sample from 61.08±0.131 to 54.21±0.067 was recorded (p<0.05). Water holding capacity (WHC) in all treatments was decreased during 6 months. The lowest WHC (g/g) was obtained in the surimi without cryoprotectants and maximum WHC was measured in Tcs and Twpc samples, respectively (p<0.05). The lowest breaking force was calculated in Txg (166.00±22.627 g) and Tc (271.50±263.16 g) during 6 months at frozen storage, respectively (p<0.05), while Twpc treatment with slight variations showed the highest breaking force (p<0.05). Also, the lowest gel strength was obtained in Txg (68.22±6.740 g.cm) after 6 month of frozen storage (p<0.05). All Kamaboko surimi gels texture profile analysis parameters decreaced with increasing shelf life. This decreasing trend in the control sample was more severe. Floding results were reduced in all samples during storage (p<0.05). The best protective results probably were obtained in WPC, chitosan and commercial cryoprotectant agents, respectively due to protein stabilization of myofibrillar proteins and the protein-protein network structure, leading to the formation of surimi gel with strong textural properties during frozen conditions. The average number of surimi polygonal structures were significantly decreased (number per mm2) and their area were significantly increased (μm2) in all treatments (p<0.05). With increasing storage time, moisture, protein contents and pH were decreaced. Maximun TVB-N index was calculated in Tc (7.93±0.400 mg/100g) and Txg (7.88±0.477), respectively (p<0.05). TBRAs index was increased in all treatments during frozen storage, while this trend was reached in maximum value in Tc (p<0.05). Sensory evaluation of the fish finger quality characteristics (color, odor, texture and overall acceptability) preapare from frozen black mouth croaker surimi was decreaced during 6 month frozen storage. After the period of frozen storage the highest quality scores were measured in Twpc, Tcs and Tcc samples, respectively (p<0.05). In this study, coliform bacteria were not found in all treatments during frozen storage. The surimi sample containing chitosan showed lower mesophilic and psychrotropic bacteria (log cfu/g) than other treatments during frozen storage (p<0.05). Salt-soluble proteins extractions of all treatments were decreased during frozen storage. This decreacing trend was highest in Tcs (45.74±0.176%) and lowest in Tc treatments after 6 month of frozen storage (29.92±0.224%) (p<0.05). Although commercial cryoprotectant agents were successful in limiting the denaturation of proteins but sugar contents were not accepted for diabetics or those who disagree with the sweet taste and high calorie food. Hence, commercial cryoprotectant agents can be replaced with whey protein concentrate and chitosan at 1% level (w/w) consider that they were showed proper protection of the surimi myofibrillar proteins during storage.