The Truth About Soviet Whaling: A Memoir

In November 1993, Professor Alexei Yablokov, who at the time was the Science Advisor to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, stood on a podium in Galveston, Tex., and delivered a speech to the Society for Marine Mammalogy’s biennial conference, the premier international event in the field of marine mammal science. Addressing the 1,500 scientists present, he made what amounted to a national confession: that, beginning in 1948, the U.S.S.R. had begun a huge campaign of illegal whaling. Despite being a signatory to the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling (signed in Washington, D.C., just 2 years before in 1946), the Soviets set out to pillage the world’s ocean

International Seafood Conference 25. Jahrestagung der WEFTA (West European Fish Technologists' Association)

The 25th annual meeting of WEFTA was held in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, in November 1995 as an "International Seafood Conference". In 12 sessions 40 oral presentations and 60 posters were presented. The topics included among others: Quality assurance, consumer demands and behaviour, processing, packaging, distribution, nutrition, storage, analytical methodology. The conference was attended by 210 participants from 33 countries.

The Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus L.): a bibliography

Compiled by Patricia Ann Skaptason. "This bibliography is designed to bring together literature on the fin whale, published from 1940 through 1970. newspaper articles, legal matgerial (except that by the International Whaling Commission), biochemical studies, juvenile and strictly narrative works have been omitted"

John Nathan Cobb (1868–1930): Founding Director of the College of Fisheries, University of Washington, Seattle

John Nathan Cobb (1868–1930) became the founding Director of the College of Fisheries, University of Washington, Seattle, in 1919 without the benefit of a college education. An inquisitive and ambitious man, he began his career in the newspaper business and was introduced to commercial fisheries when he joined the U.S. Fish Commission (USFC) in 1895 as a clerk, and he was soon promoted to a “Field Agent” in the Division of Statistics, Washington, D.C. During the next 17 years, Cobb surveyed commercial fisheries from Maine to Florida, Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska for the USFC and its successor, the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. In 1913, he became editor of the prominent west coast trade magazine, Pacific Fisherman, of Seattle, Wash., where he became known as a leading expert on the fisheries of the Pacific Northwest. He soon joined the campaign, led by his employer, to establish the nation’s first fisheries school at the University of Washington. After a brief interlude (1917–1918) with the Alaska Packers Association in San Francisco, Calif., he was chosen as the School’s founding director in 1919. Reflecting his experience and mindset, as well as the University’s apparent initial desire, Cobb established the College of Fisheries primarily as a training ground for those interested in applied aspects of the commercial fishing industry. Cobb attracted sufficient students, was a vigorous spokesman for the College, and had ambitions plans for expansion of the school’s faculty and facilities. He became aware that the College was not held in high esteem by his faculty colleagues or by the University administration because of the school’s failure to emphasize scholastic achievement, and he attempted to correct this deficiency. Cobb became ill with heart problems in 1929 and died on 13 January 1930. The University soon thereafter dissolved the College and dismissed all but one of its faculty. A Department of Fisheries, in the College of Science, was then established in 1930 and was led by William Francis Thompson (1888–1965), who emphasized basic science and fishery biology. The latter format continues to the present in the Department’s successor, The School of Aquatic Fisheries and Science.

Our living oceans: report on the status of U.S. living marine resources, 6th edition

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is dedicated to the stewardship of living marine resources (LMR’s). This is accomplished through science-based conservation and management, and the promotion of healthy ecosystems. As a steward, NMFS has an obligation to conserve, protect, and manage these resources in a way that ensures their continuation as functioning components of healthy marine ecosystems, affords economic opportunities, and enhances the quality of life for the American public. In addition to its responsibilities within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), NMFS plays a supportive and advisory role in the management of LMR’s in the coastal areas under state jurisdiction and provides scientific and policy leadership in the international arena. NMFS also implements international measures for the conservation and management of LMR’s, as appropriate.NMFS receives its stewardship responsibilities under a number of Federal laws. These include the Nation’s primary fisheries law, the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act. This law was first passed in 1976, later reauthorized as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1996, and reauthorized again on 12 January 2007 as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act (MSRA). The MSRA mandates strong action to conserve and manage fishery resources and requires NMFS to end overfishing by 2010 in all U.S. commercial and recreational fisheries, rebuild all overfished stocks, and conserve essential fish habitat.

Scientific assessment of freshwater harmful algal blooms

In 2004, Congress reauthorized the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 with the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Amendments Act (HABHRCA 2004). The 2004 legislation required the generation of five reports, including this "Scientific Assessment of Freshwater Harmful Algal Blooms." HABHRCA 2004 stipulates that this report 1) examine the causes, consequences, and economic costs of freshwater HABs, 2) establish priorities and guidelines for a research program on freshwater HABs, and 3) make recommendations to improve coordination among Federal agencies with respect to research on HABs in freshwater environments. This report is divided into five chapters: Chapter 1 provides the legislative background and process for developing the report, Chapter 2 describes the problem of freshwater and inland HABs in the United States, Chapter 3 outlines the current Federal efforts in freshwater and inland HAB research and response, Chapter 4 discusses the future research priorities, and Chapter 5 delineates opportunities for coordination to advance research efforts. The document is based, in large part, on the proceedings (Hudnell 2008) of the International Symposium on Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms, a meeting convened by EPA and sponsored by a variety of Federal agencies, to describe current scientific knowledge and identify priorities for future research on CyanoHABs. This report offers a plan for coordinating the important research that is currently ongoing in the United States and for guiding future research directions for Federal programs as well as for state, local, private, and academic institutions in order to maximize advancements. To this end, the Interagency Working Group on Harmful Algal Blooms, Hypoxia, and Human Health (IWG-4H) identifies seven priorities, all of equal weight, for freshwater HAB research and response. These priorities represent research areas where there is the greatest potential for progress in freshwater HAB research. This report does not attempt to assess the relative importance of freshwater HAB research compared to other research areas or other priorities for Federal or state investment.

Response of fishes to the underwater D.C. field

Response to external electric field (D. C.) of three different varieties of fish namely Puntius ticto, Heteropneustis fossilis and Tilapia mossambica having different anatomical and behavioural characteristics were studied. Clearly distinguished reactions occurred one after another m all the varieties of fish with the increase in field intensity with minor specific variations. These reactions can be broadly classified into initial start (first reaction), forced swimming (galvanotaxis), slackening of body muscle (galvanonarcosis) and state of muscular rigidity (tetanus). The orientation of the organism (projection of nervous element) to the surrounding field has been found to have important bearing on the behaviour reactions. Clearly differentiated anodic taxis and true narcosis set in when fish body axis was parallel to the lines of current conduction. But with greater angle between the body axis and the current lines, fish did not show well marked reactions. Fish body, when perpendicular to current lines responded for anodic curvature and off balance swimming followed by tetanus.