STREAM Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp 1-18. January-March 2006

CONTENTS: Policy development as a theme and policy briefs as a genre, by Graham Haylor and William Savage. Decriminalizing Cambodian family-scale fishers through a livelihoods approach to law reform, by Nao Thuok and Chun Sopha. Longer pond leases in Orissa, by Reshmee Guha and Rubu Mukherjee. One-stop aqua shop: a “one-window delivery” service center for aqua-farmers and fishers, by S.D. Tripathi, Rubu Mukherjee and Kuddus Ansary. Fisheries and aquaculture policy formulation process in Pakistan, by Muhammad Junaid Wattoo and Dr. Muhammad Hayat. Improving the international marine ornamental fish trade to sustain and improve the livelihoods of poor people involved in the trade, by Aniza Suspita, Michael J. Phillips and Samliok Ndobe.

Peuplements zooplanctoniques dans les régions de remontées d'eau du littoral atlantique africain

The introduction is followed by a resume of the biogeographic factors and the principal work. The characteristics of zooplankton in different regions are presented based on regular research in Santa Helena Bay and Walvis Bay and the research carried out by William Scoresby. Certain factors of the digestive system of South African plankton are discussed. The next section concerns research in intertropical and equatorial regions in the Gulf of Guinea. It considers the littoral region of Angola, the Pointe Noire region and discusses the density and complexity of stocks. The last section concerns the zooplankton of Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast and discusses the grouping of species and compares the results.

The repulsive and feeding-deterrent effects of electropositive metals on juvenile sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus)

Reducing shark bycatch and depredation (i.e., damage caused by sharks to gear, bait, and desired fish species) in pelagic longline fisheries targeting tunas and swordfish is a priority. Electropositive metals (i.e., a mixture of the lanthanide elements lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and praseodymium) have been shown to deter spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias, primarily a coastal species) from attacking bait, presumably because of interactions with the electroreceptive system of this shark. We undertook to determine the possible effectiveness of electropositive metals for reducing the interactions of pelagic sharks with longline gear, using sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus, family Carcharhinidae) as a model species. The presence of electropositive metal deterred feeding in groups of juvenile sandbar sharks and altered the swimming patterns of individuals in the absence of food motivation (these individuals generally avoided approaching electropositive metal closer than ~100 cm). The former effect was relatively short-lived however; primarily (we assume) because competition with other individuals increased feeding motivation. In field trials with bottom longline gear, electropositive metal placed within ~10 cm of the hooks reduced the catch of sandbar sharks by approximately two thirds, compared to the catch on hooks in the proximity of plastic pieces of similar dimensions. Electropositive metals therefore appear to have the potential to reduce shark interactions in pelagic longline fisheries, although the optimal mass, shape, composition, and distance to baited hooks remain to be determined.

Length-weight relationships of five species of the family Sparidae in the Gulf of Guinea

Length-weight relationships are presented by sex and by country for five species of the family Sparidae (Pugrus caeruleostictus, Pagellus bellottii, Dentex canariensis, Dentex congonensis, Dentex angolensis) sampled in April 1990 during the Guinea '90 trawling survey off Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.

William Francis Thompson (1888–1965): a Preeminent Fishery Biologist of the Early and Mid Twentieth Century

William Francis Thompson (1888–1965) was a preeminent fishery scientist of the early to mid twentieth century. Educated at Stanford University in California (B.A. 1911, Ph.D. 1930), Thompson conducted pioneering research on the Pacific halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis, from 1914 to 1917 for the British Columbia Provincial Fisheries Department. He then directed marine fisheries research for the State of California from 1917 to 1924, was Director of Investigations for the International Fisheries Commission from 1924 to 1939, and Director of the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission from 1937 to 1942. He was also Director of the School of Fisheries, University of Washing-ton, Seattle, from 1930 to 1947. Thompson was the founding director in 1947 of the Fisheries Research Institute at the University of Washington and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1958. He was a dominant figure in fisheries research of the Pacific Northwest and influenced a succession of fishery scientists with his yield-based analysis of fishery stocks, as opposed to studying the fishes’environment. Will Thompson was also a major figure in education, and many of his former students attained leadership positions in fisheries research and administration.