Agricultural Best Management Practices and Treatment Wetlands in the Gabilan Watershed: Project Asessment and Evaluation Plan

Several local groups have come together for this project to addresses water quality concerns in the Gabilan Watershed – also known as the Reclamation Ditch Watershed (Fig. 1.1). These are Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML), the Resource Conservation District of Monterey County (RCDMC), Central Coast Watershed Studies (CCoWS), Return of the Natives (RON), Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), and Coastal Conservation and Research (CC&R). The primary goal is to reduce non-point source pollution – particularly suspended sediment, nutrients, and pesticides – and thereby improve near-shore coastal waters of Moss Landing Harbor and the Monterey Bay. (Document contains 33 pages)

Aquatic Vegetation, Largemouth Bass and Water Quality Responses to Low-Dose Fluridone Two Years Post Treatment

Whole-lake techniques are increasingly being used to selectively remove exotic plants, including Eurasian watermilfoil ( Myriophyllum spicatum L.). Fluridone (1-methyl-3-phenyl- 5-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-4(1 H )-pyridinone), a systemic whole-lake herbicide, is selective for Eurasian watermilfoil within a narrow low concentration range. Because fluridone applications have the potential for large effects on plant assemblages and lake food webs, they should be evaluated at the whole-lake scale. We examined effects of low-dose (5 to 8 ppb) fluridone applications by comparing submersed plant assemblages, water quality and largemouth bass ( Micropterus salmoides ) growth rates and diets between three reference lakes and three treatment lakes one- and two-years post treatment. In the treatment lakes, fluridone reduced Eurasian watermilfoil cover without reducing native plant cover, although the duration of Eurasian watermilfoil reduction varied among treatment lakes. (PDF has 11 pages.)

A global experiment on tilapia aquaculture: impacts of the Pond Dynamics/Aquaculture CRSP in Rwanda, Honduras, Philippines and Thailand

The Pond Dynamics/Aquaculture Collaborative Research Support Program (PDA/CRSP) is a global research network to generate basic science that may be used to advance aquaculture development. One of a family of research programs funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the CRSP focuses on improving the efficiency of aquaculture systems. The PDA/CRSP began work in 1982 in Thailand, and subsequently in the Philippines, Honduras, the US and, until recently, Rwanda. At all the sites, the goal is the same: to identify constraints to aquaculture production, and to design responses that are environmentally and culturally appropriate. The research network's global experiment has focused on tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), although some sites have devoted attention to marine shrimp and other locally significant species. Impact of the network's investigations with tilapia is examined in this article.

Study and investigation of the various reactions of Mazandaran Province shoreline against wind waves

Determining of beach states and study of manner sediment transmission in beach profile, involves the evaluating the actions of hydrodynamic forces dominated over the beaches, in this research through determining the beach states by the help of Hanson and short method, different reactions of Mazandaran’s shoreline against wind waves was studied and investigated. For this reason, First, the kind of hydrodynamic forces dominated over the beaches of this province was studied and beaches of the this province was distinguished as wave–dominated beaches, afterwards eight stations are chosen throughout the shoreline and the waves qualities and the sediments regarding to different depth was evaluated in these stations by using software and laboratory actions. In this way the parameter of dimensionless fall velocity each station was calculated and the beach states and their changes according to time was studied. Finally, the gained information is located in the software area of Arc GIS, and the waves dynamics and the way of erosion and accretion was evaluated in each station. In this research by study of air photographs during a thirty years period we found that was no remarkable changes at shoreline in western and central parts and each type of change depends upon the delta, while eastern part of coast at the location of breakwaters in neighbouring of Farahabad Station, accretion features is quiet evident. In the main results of this research, it became obvious that the beach state in the stations Neca, Farahabad, Larim, Naftchal, Mazandaran university, Babolsar, Noor is dissipative and the beach in Nashtarood station is in intermediate (ridge and runnel) state to the extend that in the dissipation beaches from east to west, the degree of dissipation of the beaches is decreased continuously.