Coastal and marine protected areas in Mexico

This study on marine protected areas (MPAs) in Mexico relies on a variety of data sources as well as the authors’ longstanding field experience, particularly in the Yucatan Peninsula, to analyze the design, establishment and operation of protected areas. It discusses two case studies of MPAs in detail and summarizes the findings from four others, focusing primarily on the role played by local communities in managing coastal and marine resources. The study also draws on the perspective of key informants, namely, Mexican experts on coastal and ocean management issues, including government officials, decisionmakers, researchers, members of non governmental organizations (NGOs), and consultants. (97 pp.)

Characterization of North Carolina commercial fisheries with occasional interactions with marine mammals

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA, 16 U.S.c. et seq.), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is required to publish an annual List of Fisheries (LOF) which categorizes U.S. commercial fisheries based on their level of interaction with marine mammals. The objective of this document is to provide a characterization of the six 2001 MMPA Category II commercial fisheries (i.e., those with occasional interactions with marine mammals) in North Carolina (NC). This report outlines the history, fishing method and gear configurations (using the U.S. system of measurement), primary target species, temporal and spatial characteristics including trip and landing statistics, and monthly variations in species composition for each fishery for a five-year period (1995 - 1999). (PDF contains 63 pages)

Estimating the Economic Impact of the Wild Shrimp, Penaeus sp., Fishery: A Study of Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana

Two approaches are used to estimate the economic impact of domestic wild shrimp, Penaeus sp., fishing in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. A 2002 survey of commercial shrimp fishermen in the Parish yields information on sales and operating costs, and results are used to estimate a 1-yr sales effect in the Parish of $36.7 to $128.1 million due to shrimp fishing. In addition, 2001 shrimp ticket sales data ($49.9 million) are input into a REMI (Regional Economic Models, Inc.) model built for the 4-parish bayou region of Louisiana. The REMI model forecasts a year 1 reduction in gross regional product (GRP) of $45.9 million in the 4-parish area if the shrimp fishing industry were to disappear in Terrebonne Parish, and an 8-yr cumulative negative impact on GRP in the bayou region of $191.3 million. Study limitations and suggestions for future research are included.

Study of inter species diversity and population structure by molecular genetic method in Iranian Artemia

Artemia is a small crustacean that adapted to live in brine water and has been seen in different brine water sources in Iran. Considering the importance of genetic studies manifest inter population differences in species, to estimate genetic structure, detect difference at molecular level and separate different Artemia populations of Iran, also study of phylogenic relationships among them, samples of Artemia were collected from nine region: Urmia lake in West Azerbaijan, Shoor and Inche-Borun lakes in Golestan, Hoze-Soltan and Namak lakes in Qom, Maharloo and Bakhteghan lakes in Fars, Nough pool in Kerman and Mighan pool in Markazi and DNA extracted by phenol-chloroform method. Primers designed on a ribosomal fragment (16s rRNA) of mt DNA sequence and PCR was done. Digestion of the 1566 bp segment PCR product by 10 restriction endonuclease (Alu I, EcoR I, Eco47 I, Hae III, Hind III, Hinf I, Mbo I, Msp I, Rsa I, TaqI) showed 25 different haplotypes: 9 in Urmia, 4 in Shoor and Inche- Borun, 1 in Namak and Hoze-Soltan, 3 in Mighan, 1 in Bakhtegan Maharlo, 3 in Maharloo and 4 in Nough. Measurement of haplotype and nucleotide diversity intra population and nucleotide diversity and divergence inter populations and evolutionary distance between haplotypes showed a high diversity in mitochondrial genome of Artemia in studied regions whose results are similar to those explained for highly geographic expansion organism. In addition, results showed considerable heterogeneity between different populations and there are enough evidences in haplotypic level for separation of studied samples and division of Iranian Artemia to seven populations including Urmia, Shoor and Inche-Borun, Hoze-Soltan and Namak, Maharloo, Bakhteghan, Nough and Mighan. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA data set resulted strict consensus and neighbor joining distance trees, demonstrated that all samples were monophyletic and parthenogenetic form derivation from bisexual populations and genetically high resemblance to those of A. urmiana. Study of 270 specimens from different region showed the genus Artemia in Iran clustered into three clades including: 1- Shoor, Inche-Burun, Hoze-Soltan, Namak, Bakhtegan and Maharloo 2- Nough and Mighan 3- Urmia. Totally, obtained results indicated to ability of used techniques for study of inter species diversity, population structure, reveal of phylogenic relationship and dividing of different populations of Artemia in Iran.