Procedures to prevent the occurrence of potentially dangerous situations during the operation of the Mackereth 1-metre mini or short sediment corer

During the 1950s and 1960s, F.J.H. Mackereth developed and published plans for a series of pneumatic samplers for lake sediments. Unfortunately, as the equipment was continually evolving during ensuing research, no user manuals, beyond the original publication, had been produced. Over the last few years there have been a few potentially very serious accidents with the 1-metre corer, which has prompted the authors to carry out a risk assessment. This highlighted two weaknesses in the design and its later developments. They can be corrected simply by checking for screw threads that may have been added to the exhaust port on the mini-corer, and by changing the operating procedure. An A4 nine-page user manual is now available from the authors. A small charge ( pound sterling 10 in 1998) will be made to cover handling costs and postage.

A modeling approach to identify optimal habitat and suitable fishing grounds for neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii) in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

We developed a habitat suitability index (HSI) model to understand and identify the optimal habitat and potential fishing grounds for neon f lying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii) in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. Remote sensing data, including sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity, sea surface height, and chlorophyll-a concentrations, as well as fishery data from Chinese mainland squid f leets in the main fishing ground (150–165°E longitude) from August to October, from 1999 to 2004, were used. The HSI model was validated by using fishery data from 2005. The arithmetic mean modeling with three of the environmental variables—sea surface temperature, sea surface height anomaly, and chlorophyll- a concentrations—was defined as the most parsimonious HSI model. In 2005, monthly HSI values >0.6 coincided with productive fishing grounds and high fishing effort from August to October. This result implies that the model can reliably predict potential f ishing grounds for O. bartramii. Because spatially explicit fisheries and environmental data are becoming readily available, it is feasible to develop a dynamic, near real-time habitat model for improving the process of identifying potential fishing areas for and optimal habitats of neon flying squid.

New information from fish diets on the importance of glassy flying squid (Hyaloteuthis pelagica) (Teuthoidea: Ommastrephidae) in the epipelagic cephalopod community of the tropical Atlantic Ocean

Squids of the family Ommastrephidae are a vital part of marine food webs and support major fisheries around the world. They are widely distributed in the open ocean, where they are among the most abundant in number and biomass of nektonic epipelagic organisms. In turn, seven of the 11 genera of this family (Dosidicus, Illex, Martialia, Nototodarus, Ommastrephes, Sthenoteuthis, and Todarodes) are heavily preyed upon by top marine predators, i.e., birds, mammals, and fish, and currently support fisheries in both neritic and oceanic waters (Roper and Sweeney, 1984; Rodhouse, 1997). Their commercial importance has made the large ommastrephids the target of many scientific investigations and their biology is consequently reasonably well-known (Nigmatullin et al., 2001; Zuyev et al., 2002; Bower and Ichii, 2005). In contrast, much less information is available on the biology and ecological role of the smaller, unexploited species of ommastrephids (e.g., Eucleoteuthis, Hyaloteuthis, Ornithoteuthis, and Todaropsis).

Taxonomic notes on a collection of flying fishes from Ceylon waters

The present study reports another seven species of flying fishes and brings the total for Ceylon to fifteen. Eleven of these fifteen species are represented in the author's collection. A key based on Breader (1938) and Parin (1960) and descriptive notes for these eleven species are given in this paper.