Meso-scale transboundary units for the management of coral reefs in the South China Sea area

Local communities and local government units are recognized as the primary stakeholders and participants in the management of coral reef resources and the primary beneficiaries of small-scale fishing activities in the nearshore areas of the coastal zone. The issues relating to the management of the coastal zone are multi-faceted and some issues are largely intertwined with national policy and development goals. Thus, national governments have jurisdiction over these nearshore coastal resources to harmonize policies, monitor resource use and provide incentives for sustainable use. However, the natural boundaries of these reef resources, the processes that support reef ecosystems, and the local or national affiliation of the people who benefit from them may transcend the boundaries of the local and national management units. Therefore, efforts to arrest the decline in fish catch and loss of biodiversity for reefs require management interventions and assessment activities to be carried out at varying scales. In Southeast Asia, some aspects of reef and reef resources management — particularly in deciding the allocation of catch among competing fisheries, development of sustainable harvest strategies, use of broodstock for restocking or stock enhancement programs, protection of nursery and spawning areas, designation of systems of marine protected areas, and the identification of representative, adequate and comprehensive areas for biodiversity conservation in the region — may require the definition of larger management units. At the regional level, multi-country initiatives will need to define units for the transboundary management of resources. The use of large marine ecosystems (LMEs) to identify and manage fisheries resources may be a starting point; however, given the relatively sedentary nature of coral reef-dwelling and reef-associated organisms compared with other pelagic and demersal species, meso-scale transboundary units within the LMEs have to be defined. This paper provides suggestions for transboundary management units for coral reef and reef-associated resources in Southeast Asia based on information from genetic structures of model organisms in the region. In addition, specific reef areas are identified, which may be important beyond their national boundaries, as potential sources of recruits.

Bothid larvae (Pleuronectiformes-pisces) of the Gulf od Thailand and South China Sea

The larvae of bothids were found to be sparsely distributed in the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea being only 11.9% in the Naga Expedition Collections. They were confined mostly to the coastal waters and were found in near shore stations situated between Bangkok and Saigon. Their density was high in the Gulf of Thailand. The larvae seem to prefer darkness with greater incidence during April 16 to October 15 period, with a peak in the collections taken during April. This report includes the occurrence of 17 species belonging to 6 genera collected from the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea, along with their regional, seasonal as well as diurnal variations

Pilot investigation of remote sensing for intertidal oyster mapping in coastal South Carolina: a methods comparison

South Carolina’s oyster reefs are a major component of the coastal landscape. Eastern oysters Crassostrea virginica are an important economic resource to the state and serve many essential functions in the environment, including water filtration, creek bank stabilization and habitat for other plants and animals. Effective conservation and management of oyster reefs is dependent on an understanding of their abundance, distribution, condition, and change over time. In South Carolina, over 95% of the state’s oyster habitat is intertidal. The current intertidal oyster reef database for South Carolina was developed by field assessment over several years. This database was completed in the early 1980s and is in need of an update to assess resource/habitat status and trends across the state. Anthropogenic factors such as coastal development and associated waterway usage (e.g., boat wakes) are suspected of significantly altering the extent and health of the state’s oyster resources. In 2002 the NOAA Coastal Services Center’s (Center) Coastal Remote Sensing Program (CRS) worked with the Marine Resources Division of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) to develop methods for mapping intertidal oyster reefs along the South Carolina coast using remote sensing technology. The objective of this project was to provide SCDNR with potential methodologies and approaches for assessing oyster resources in a more efficiently than could be accomplished through field digitizing. The project focused on the utility of high-resolution aerial imagery and on documenting the effectiveness of various analysis techniques for accomplishing the update. (PDF contains 32 pages)

The South China Sea: analyzing fisheries catch data in an ecosystem context

The South China Sea is an important fishing area with an annual harvest of some 5 million tonnes, or 10% of the catches jointly taken by the developing nations of the world. Details are given of a model of the area describing fisheries catches and biological interactions. The area, viewed as a large marine ecosystem, was divided into 10 subsystems; each subsystem was then linked with adjacent subsystems by predatory links, and detritus flows. An analysis was then made of catch statistics for each of the subsystems. It is believed that if all systems could be harvested at around the highest efficiency, an additional 5-6 million tonnes could be taken annually from the South China Sea; however, more refined analyses are needed to further investigate these possibilities. If linked with careful studies of the economic and human aspects of fishing, such analyses will provide guidelines for integrated fisheries management advice.

Structural features of geostrophic circulation in open region of the South China Sea

On the basis of observation data of water temperature and salinity the mean seasonal geostrophic circulation in open region of the South China Sea (SCS) was computed by the dynamic method relative to the 800 decibar reference surface. The results of computation let go to following notices: In both main monsoons (winter and summer) there are two main geostrophic eddies: the anticlockwise eddy in the northern and northwestern part, and the clockwise eddy in the southern part of the SCS with corresponding divergent and convergent zones. The main frontal zones go along the middle latitudes of the sea from the southern continental shelf of Vietnam to the area west of Luzon Island. The strength and stability of the current in winter are higher than in summer. The Kuroshio has an enough strong branch intruding into the SCS through Bashi Strait in winter creating in the sea the water structure similar to that of the Northwest Pacific subtropical and tropical regions. In summer the Kuroshio water can intrude directly only into the area southwest of Taiwan.

Aquaculture Asia, Vol.13, No.2, pp.1-56, April-June 2008

Peter Edwards writes on rural aquaculture: From integrated carp polyculture to intensive monoculture in the Pearl River Delta, South China. Better management practices for Vietnamese catfish. Ipomoea aquatica – an aquaculture friendly macrophyte. A status overview of fisheries and aquaculture development in Pakistan with context to other Asian countries. The changing face of post-grad education in aquaculture: contributing to soaring production and sustainable practices. Hatchery management in Bangladesh. Production of Cirrhinus molitorella and Labeo chrysophekadion for culture based fisheries development in Lao PDR Part I: Captive spawning. Application of ipil-ipil leaf meal as feed Ingredient for monosex tilapia fry (Oreochromis niloticus) in terms of growth and economics. Fermented feed ingredients as fish meal replacer in aquafeed production Aquaculture and fishing management in coastal zone demarcation: the case of Thailand. Reservoir fisheries of freshwater prawn – success story of an emerging culture-based giant freshwater prawn fishery at Malampuzha Dam in Kerala, India. Determining and locating sea cage production area for sustainable tropical aquaculture. SPC Pacific-Asia marine fish mariculture technical workshop: “Farming Marine Fishes for our Future”. Developing Better Management Practices for Marine Finfish Aquaculture. Breeding and seed production of silver pompano (Trachinotus blochii, Lacepede) at the Mariculture Development Center of Batam. Potential of silver pomfret (Pampus argenteus) as a new candidate species for aquaculture. NACA Newsletter.

Effects of land use and physicochemical water quality on grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, and its parasitic isopod, Probopyrus pandalicola, in South Carolina, USA tidal creeks

Grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, are a common inhabitant of US East and Gulf coast salt marshes and are a food source for recreationally and economically important fish and crustacean species. Due to the relationship of grass shrimp with their ecosystem, any significant changes in grass shrimp population may have the potential to affect the estuarine system. Land use is a crucial concern in coastal areas where increasing development impacts the surrounding estuaries and salt marshes and has made grass shrimp population studies a logical choice to investigate urbanization effects. Any impact on tidal creeks will be an impact on grass shrimp populations and their associated micro-environment whether predator, prey or parasitic symbiont. Anthropogenic stressors introduced into the grass shrimp ecosystem may even change the intensity of infections from parasitic symbionts. An ectoparasite found on P. pugio is the bopyrid isopod Probopyrus pandalicola. Little is known about factors that may affect the occurrence of this isopod in grass shrimp populations. The goal was to analyze the prevalence of P. pandalicola in grass shrimp in relation to land use classifications, water quality parameters, and grass shrimp population metrics. Eight tidal creeks in coastal South Carolina were sampled monthly over a three year period. The occurrence of P. pandalicola ranged from 1.2% to 5.7%. Analysis indicated that greater percent water and marsh coverage resulted in a higher incidence of bopyrid occurrence. Analysis also indicated that higher bopyrid incidence occurred in creeks with higher salinity, temperature, and pH but lower dissolved oxygen. The land use characteristics found to limit bopyrid incidence were limiting to grass shrimp (definitive host) populations and probably copepod (intermediate host) populations as well.

Studies on the mouth size of fish larvae. Method and conclusions only [Translation from: Bulletin of the Japanese Society of Scientific Fisheries 36, 353-368, 1970]

This study was conducted to look into the relationship between mouth size and the total length of larval fish, and the growth in total length of larval fish in one or within a one-year period. Study material was gathered in the South China Sea, the Bay of Bangkok and the Vietnamese coast. This translation focuses on methods and conclusions of the original (longer) paper.

Length-weight relationship of Gulf of Thailand fishes

The length-weight relationship of 26 fish species belonging to 17 families obtained from the Gulf of Thailand was examined. As seven species were obtained from different survey periods and three were from two different locations, seasonal and geographic variations of the equation between body weight W and total length L, W = aL super(b), were examined. The b values of the 27 species were tested for their significant differences from the value of 3; this confirmed that a few species showed significant differences of b value from 3. It is suggested that the 'cube law (b = 3)' can be applied to the length-weight relationship of most fishes in the Gulf of Thailand, with a few exceptions. This was confirmed by the analysis of b values from 72 additional species from the South China Sea area.

Developmental characters of Psettina Iijimae (Jordan and Starks), bothid flat fishes - Pisces

Post larval stages of Psettina Iijimae ranging from 1.8 mm NL to 44.6 mm SL collected during Naga Expedition and International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) are described. The characteristics which help to identify larval stages of Psettina are: the presence of pigmented urohyal appendage in early stages which is progressively reduced during flexion stages and which disappears in later postflexion stages, the meristics, the spines on urohyal and posterior basipterygial processes and the absence of spines on cleithra. The P. iijimae can be distinguished by the presence of spines on the median fin rays which differentiate near the baseosts along the dorsal and ventral body wall much before the fin rays. The larvae of P.iijimae were more abundant in the Gulf of Thailand compared to South China Sea and Indian Ocean.