STREAM Journal, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp 1-21. Jan-March 2007

CONTENTS: Approaches to understanding pond-dike systems in Asia: the POND-LIVE project approach, by Dave Little, Marc Verdegem and Roel Bosma. The contribution of fish ponds to nutrient cycling in integrated farming systems, by P.N. Muendo, J.J. Stoorvogel and Marc Verdegem. Improving the contribution of fishfarming to livelihoods in Northeast Thailand, by Chittra Arjinkit, Roel Bosma, Danai Turongrouang. Benefits of pond-dike systems in Bangladesh, by M.S. Kabir, M.A. Wahab and Marc Verdegem. Common carp increases rohu production in farmers ponds, by Mohammad Mustafizur Rahman, Md. Abdul Wahab and Marc C.J. Verdegem. Improving pond-dike farming systems in the Mekong delta, Vietnam; the Can Tho approach, by Dang Kieu Nhan, Le Thanh Duong, Le Thanh Phong, Roel H. Bosma and Marc C.J. Verdegem. Fuzzy pathways for farm development in Vietnam, by Roel H. Bosma, Le Thanh Phong, and Dang Kieu Nhan.

Channel Islands Deep Water Monitoring Plan Development Workshop Report April 26-27, 2005 University of California, Santa Barbara

In 2003, twelve marine protected areas were established in state waters (0-3 nmi) surrounding the Channel Islands. NOAA is considering extending this network (3-6 nmi) into deeper waters of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS). In order for effective long-term management of the deep water reserves to occur, a well-structured monitoring program is required to assess effectiveness. The CINMS and the National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP) hosted a 2-day workshop in April 2005 to develop a monitoring plan for the proposed federal marine reserves in that sanctuary. Conducted at the University of California at Santa Barbara, participants included scientists from academic, state, federal, and private research institutions. Workshop participants developed project ideas that could answer priority questions posed by the NMSP. This workshop report will be used to develop a monitoring plan for the reserves. (PDF contains 47 pages.)

Der Haftwasseranteil bei Heringsanlandungen über Bandwaagen

In 2004 the fish processing company Euro-Baltic Fischverarbeitungs GmbH Mukran, went into operation on the Isle of Rügen at the Baltic coast of Germany. About 20 % of the herring landed there is discharged from the cutters into the processing plant by pipes, driven by pumps, in case that the landed volume exceeds 10 t fresh weight. In such case the herring is transported in water suspension by means of a pressure-vacuum suction pump system into containers and further transported via conveyer belt to a flowscale. During this process most of the water runs off. It is however unknown how much water remains with the fish and is eventually weighted as fish. To estimate this proportion the mixture of water and fish was stored in special transport containers, which allow the measurement of the run-off. As a result the study shows that on average 2 % of weight measured by the tape scale is water. Along with this factors were determined which influence the variability of the proportion of water.

Der Anteil Transportwasser bei Heringsanlandungen mittels Vakuumsauganlage in Großraumbehältern

Estimation of the water content of herring landings caused by pressure-vacuum double tank pumps and using of multi purpose transport containers About 80 % of herring that is landed in the fish processing company Euro-Baltic Fischverarbeitungs GmbH Mukran, on the Isle of Rügen at the Baltic coast is transported from the cutter into the processing plant by pumping. For this purpose 700 l-Euro-size polyethylene tubs (containers) are filled with herring by means of a pressure-vacuum pump-systems during the unloading of the cutter. To be able to pump the fish from the hold on board it is kept floating in water (transport water). At the end of the pumping/transporting process the fish ends in a dewatering box before reaching the tub, where the transport water is separated from the fish. Then, the not completely dewatered fish is slipped into the transport containers. The amount of transport water reaching the containers depends on the type of PV-equipment and on the amount of transport water in the fish holds of the different cutters. Methodologically the mixture of fish and water must be weighed together. For the experiments specially designed transport container were used which allow the measurement of the run-off of the water to be quantified and thus to measure the proportion of water remaining with the fish. Based on 30 experiments it could be shown that on average 6 % of remaining weight of the mixture is water. Furthermore, factors were detected which influence the variability of the proportion of water.

Towed vehicles: undulating platforms as tools for maping coastal processes and water quality assessment, Seaside, California, February 5-7,2007. Workshop proceedings

The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) Workshop on Towed Vehicles: Undulating Platforms As Tools for Mapping Coastal Processes and Water Quality Assessment was convened February 5-7,2007 at The Embassy Suites Hotel, Seaside, California and sponsored by the ACT-Pacific Coast partnership at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML). The TUV workshop was co-chaired by Richard Burt (Chelsea Technology Group) and Stewart Lamerdin (MLML Marine Operations). Invited participants were selected to provide a uniform representation of the academic researchers, private sector product developers, and existing and potential data product users from the resource management community to enable development of broad consensus opinions on the application of TUV platforms in coastal resource assessment and management. The workshop was organized to address recognized limitations of point-based monitoring programs, which, while providing valuable data, are incapable of describing the spatial heterogeneity and the extent of features distributed in the bulk solution. This is particularly true as surveys approach the coastal zone where tidal and estuarine influences result in spatially and temporally heterogeneous water masses and entrained biological components. Aerial or satellite based remote sensing can provide an assessment of the aerial extent of plumes and blooms, yet provide no information regarding the third dimension of these features. Towed vehicles offer a cost-effective solution to this problem by providing platforms, which can sample in the horizontal, vertical, and time-based domains. Towed undulating vehicles (henceforth TUVs) represent useful platforms for event-response characterization. This workshop reviewed the current status of towed vehicle technology focusing on limitations of depth, data telemetry, instrument power demands, and ship requirements in an attempt to identify means to incorporate such technology more routinely in monitoring and event-response programs. Specifically, the participants were charged to address the following: (1) Summarize the state of the art in TUV technologies; (2) Identify how TUV platforms are used and how they can assist coastal managers in fulfilling their regulatory and management responsibilities; (3) Identify barriers and challenges to the application of TUV technologies in management and research activities, and (4) Recommend a series of community actions to overcome identified barriers and challenges. A series of plenary presentation were provided to enhance subsequent breakout discussions by the participants. Dave Nelson (University of Rhode Island) provided extensive summaries and real-world assessment of the operational features of a variety of TUV platforms available in the UNOLs scientific fleet. Dr. Burke Hales (Oregon State University) described the modification of TUV to provide a novel sampling platform for high resolution mapping of chemical distributions in near real time. Dr. Sonia Batten (Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Sciences) provided an overview on the deployment of specialized towed vehicles equipped with rugged continuous plankton recorders on ships of opportunity to obtain long-term, basin wide surveys of zooplankton community structure, enhancing our understanding of trends in secondary production in the upper ocean. [PDF contains 32 pages]

Technische Empfehlungen für den künftigen Einsatz von Plattfischsteerten in der Ostsee

Die Grundschleppnetzfischerei in der Ostsee konzentriert sich im wesentlichen auf den Fang von Dorsch- und Plattfisch. Neben der Dorschfischerei gibt es auch beim Fang von Plattfisch gebiets- und zeitweise erhebliche Beifänge an untermaßigen Fischen, die verworfen werden müssen. Für beide in Form und Verhalten sehr unterschiedlichen Fischarten können bis dato die gleichen Steerte eingesetzt werden. Um die durch diese Mix-Fischerei an der südlichen Ostseeküste gegebenen Probleme zu verdeutlichen und auf eine zukünftig differenzierte Behandlung für die technischen Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der Selektivität hinzuwirken, werden seit 1998 vergleichende Untersuchungen mit Schleppnetzsteerten unterschiedlicher Konstruktion durchgeführt.

Weitere Selektionsuntersuchungen an Schleppnetzsteerten für den Plattfischfang in der Ostsee

The presentation includes investigations and results regarding Baltic flatfish selectivity with different trawl codend constructions. These investigations were carried out 1999/ 2000 on board of FRV “Clupea” and a commercial 17 m cutter. As could be shown, both an enlarged mesh size and another mesh form than rhombic can improve the selectivity of these fish. As flatfish catches with trawls mostly also cover cod, this mixed fishery at the southern Baltic coast should in future be managed by differentiated technical regulations for an improved selectivity. The results, also based on UW observations, current measurements, and wind tunnel tests with models, demonstrate some possible technical solutions.

Selektionsuntersuchungen an Schleppnetzsteerten für den Plattfischfang in der Ostsee

The intensified trawl fishery for flounder and otherflatfishes along the German Baltic coast during summer months resulted in the problem of increased undersized bycatches and their discarding. Thereforeselectivity trials with a standard codend, a codend withenlarged meshes and a so-called multipanel codendwith partly transverse netting were investigated. Results show that improvements in selectivity are possible, and tests including UW-TV observations shouldbe continued.

Fischereiforschungskutter "Clupea" 50 Jahre

Der seit 1. Januar 1992 vom damaligen Bundesamt für Ernährung und Forstwirtschaft, der heutigen Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung (BLE) bereederte und für Arbeiten der Bundesforschungsanstalt für Fischerei (BFAFi) verfügbare Fischereiforschungskutter (FFK) „Clupea“ wurde vor 50 Jahren am 7. November 1949 als Fischereikutter SAS 115 „Erfurt“ in Saßnitz in Dienst gestellt. Nach der Verlagerung einiger 17-m-Kutter an den Standort Karlshagen auf Usedom wurde daraus die „WOG 83“ (1955) und später die „KAR23“. Die „Erfurt“ wurde als Gespannpartner in der Heringsfischerei sowie autonom im Dorsch- und Plattfischfang mit Schleppnetzen eingesetzt.

Fangtechnische Untersuchungen zur Aal- und Plattfischfischerei in der Ostsee

Seit 1996 werden im Institut für Fischereitechnik (IFH) fangtechnische Untersuchungen zwecks Reduzierung des Beifangs bei der stark discardbelasteten Aalschleppnetzfischerei in der Ostsee durchgeführt. Diese Arbeiten wurden in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Institut für Fischerei der Landesforschungsanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Fischerei Mecklenburg-Vorpommern sowie dem Verein MARITEC e. V. durchgeführt (Gabriel und Thiele 1997; Gabriel et al. 1998). Nach Auswertung der bisher vorliegenden Ergebnisse und nach einer weiterführenden Beifanganalyse zur Schleppnetzfischerei auf Grundfischarten, insbesondere Plattfisch, in den Küstengewässern Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns wurden 1998 folgende technische Untersuchungen vorgesehen: • Überprüfung einer kombinierten Fischerei mit Plattfisch-Grundschleppnetzen und passiven Aalfanggeräten (Körbe, Langleinen, Korbketten) • Erprobung einer neuen Steertkonstruktion im Plattfischfang auf verbesserte Selektionseigenschaften • Blankaalfang mit einern pelagischen Tucknetz • Versuche in der passiven Fischerei mit verbesserten bzw. neuartigen Aalfanggeräten

Pond action: Promoting the conservation of ponds in Britain

Pond Action is an independent freshwater conservation project which was started in 1987. It is based in the School of Biological and Molecular Sciences in Oxford Polytechnic and has five full-time staff with two senior advisors. The main aim of Pond Action's work has been to promote the conservation of ponds by creating a sound, scientific basis for pond conservation. An essential aspect of this work is the need to make the results of scientific work available and understandable to everybody concerned with pond conservation.

The EC Water Framework Directive and its implications for the Environment Agency

The bulk of the European Community's water policy legislation was developed between the mid 1970s and the early 1990s. These directives addressed specific substances, sources, uses or processes but caused problems with differing methods definitions and aims. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to resolve the piecemeal approach. The Environemnt Agency (EA) welcomes and supported the overall objective of establishing a coherent legislative framework. The EA has been discussing the implications of the WFD with European partners and has developed a timetable for the implementation and a special team will commission necessary research.

Heated aquatic microcosms for climate change experiments

Ponds and shallow lakes are likely to be strongly affected by climate change, and by increase in environmental temperature in particular. Hydrological regimes and nutrient cycling may be altered, plant and animal communities may undergo changes in both composition and dynamics, and long-term and difficult to reverse switches between alternative stable equilibria may occur. A thorough understanding of the potential effects of increased temperature on ponds and shallow lakes is desirable because these ecosystems are of immense importance throughout the world as sources of drinking water, and for their amenity and conservation value. This understanding can only come through experimental studies in which the effects of different temperature regimes are compared. This paper reports design details and operating characteristics of a recently constructed experimental facility consisting of 48 aquatic microcosms which mimic the pond and shallow lake environment. Thirty-two of the microcosms can be heated and regulated to simulate climate change scenarios, including those predicted for the UK. The authors also summarise the current and future experimental uses of the microcosms.

Reconstructed drought history, north-central Great Basin, 1600-1982 [abstract]

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): Tree-ring chronologies, developed from cores from Pinyon pines growing on climatically sensitive sites in the north-central Great Basin, have been used to reconstruct precipitation and drought histories of the area from A.D. 1600 to 1982. Analysis of these hydrologic time series helps to place current climatic conditions into the perspective of the past 383 years (since 1600). ... The years 1934 and 1959 were the first and fourth driest while 1934 had the lowest July Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) of the reconstructed records. Nevertheless, the decade of the 1930's is only the seventh driest since 1600; the decade 1953-1962 ranks as the second driest. The driest non-overlapping decade since 1600 was 1856-1865. Interestingly, the second wettest decade was 1932-1941. An examination of 30-year mean precipitation data shows that the driest 30-year period was 1871-1900; 1931-1960 ranks as the fourth driest. The current 30-year period (1951-1980) ranks twelfth.