Development of a new model of feeding strategy analysis of fish incorporating resource availability and use data

A feeding strategy model is proposed using stomach content and resource availability data as a modification to Costello (1990) and Amundsen et al. (1996). Incorporation of feeding electivity index (E) instead of the prey-specific abundance signifies the importance of resource availability in prey selection as well as the predator's ability to specialize, generalize or avoid particular prey items at the individual and population level.

Seafood safety: economics of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) programmes

Seventy percent of the world's catch of fish and fishery products is consumed as food. Fish and shellfish products represent 15.6 percent of animal protein supply and 5.6 percent of total protein supply on a worldwide basis. Developing countries account for almost 50 percent of global fish exports. Seafood-borne disease or illness outbreaks affect consumers both physically and financially, and create regulatory problems for both importing and exporting countries. Seafood safety as a commodity cannot be purchased in the marketplace and government intervenes to regulate the safety and quality of seafood. Theoretical issues and data limitations create problems in estimating what consumers will pay for seafood safety and quality. The costs and benefits of seafood safety must be considered at all levels, including the fishers, fish farmers, input suppliers to fishing, processing and trade, seafood processors, seafood distributors, consumers and government. Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) programmes are being implemented on a worldwide basis for seafood. Studies have been completed to estimate the cost of HACCP in various shrimp, fish and shellfish plants in the United States, and are underway for some seafood plants in the United Kingdom, Canada and Africa. Major developments within the last two decades have created a set of complex trading situations for seafood. Current events indicate that seafood safety and quality can be used as non-tariff barriers to free trade. Research priorities necessary to estimate the economic value and impacts of achieving safer seafood are outlined at the consumer, seafood production and processing, trade and government levels. An extensive list of references on the economics of seafood safety and quality is presented. (PDF contains 56 pages; captured from html.)

Proceedings of the Learning Workshop on Livelihoods Analysis. Long An, Vietnam 19-20 November 2002

Sustainable Aquaculture for Poverty Alleviation (SAPA) is a strategy under the overall national program for hunger eradication and poverty reduction. This reflects high attention by the Ministry of Fisheries (MOFI) to the poor. Since the strategy was initiated, several actions have been taken. Recently, conferences and meetings were conducted in Hanoi, Thai Nguyen and Quang Tri. Consequently we also have workshops on a regional basis, and today we are pleased to conduct a workshop in Long An on livelihoods analysis. Now at the Ministry, there are more than 340 projects in aquaculture to attack poverty. The launch of SAPA has been given a high priority among support agencies. Recently Mr Gill of the World Bank and the Ministry agreed that they would act to strengthen aquaculture for poverty reduction. So today with the support of the Long An People’s Committee, NACA and STREAM we have a workshop to strengthen learning about livelihoods analysis. (PDF has 61 pages.)

Rescue, rehabilitation, and release of marine mammals: An analysis of current views and practices.

Stranded marine mammals have long attracted public attention. Those that wash up dead are, for all their value to science, seldom seen by the public as more than curiosities. Animals that are sick, injured, orphaned or abandoned ignite a different response. Generally, public sentiment supports any effort to rescue, treat and return them to sea. Institutions displaying marine mammals showed an early interest in live-stranded animals as a source of specimens -- in 1948, Marine Studios in St. Augustine, Florida, rescued a young short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus), the first ever in captivity (Kritzler 1952). Eventually, the public as well as government agencies looked to these institutions for their recognized expertise in marine mammal care and medicine. More recently, facilities have been established for the sole purpose of rehabilitating marine mammals and preparing them for return to the wild. Four such institutions are the Marine Mammal Center (Sausalito, CA), the Research Institute for Nature Management (Pieterburen, The Netherlands), the RSPCA, Norfolk Wildlife Hospital (Norfolk, United Kingdom) and the Institute for Wildlife Biology of Christian-Albrects University (Kiel, Germany).(PDF contains 68 pages.)

Sustainable Aquaculture for Poverty Alleviation (SAPA): Strategy and implementation

There is general agreement amongst Government and many donors that aquaculture and improved aquatic resources management can make a significant and direct impact on poverty reduction and hunger eradication in Vietnam. The key policy issue is to better support poor and vulnerable groups who depend on or could make use of aquatic resources through the use of the livelihoods perspective. To address this issue the Ministry of Fisheries of Vietnam (MOFI) has prepared this Sustainable Aquaculture for Poverty Alleviation strategy - the SAPA strategy. (Pdf contains 54 pages).

Economic analysis of fish import demand in Nigeria

The significance of the fishery industry in the Nigerian economy is examined, considering source of domestic fish production and government fish production programmes and also analysis Nigeria's fish imports during the period 1971-80. Suggestions are made regarding the regulation of fish imports to conserve foreign exchange and the removal of constraints in domestic fish production expansion

Policy analysis of shoreline restoration options on private shorelines of Puget Sound

Puget Sound shorelines have historically provided a diversity of habitats that support a variety of aquatic resources throughout the region. These valued natural resources are iconic to the region and remain central to both the economic vitality and community appreciation of Puget Sound. Deterioration of upland and nearshore shoreline habitats, have placed severe stress on many aquatic resources within the region (PSAT, 2007). Since a majority of Washington State shorelines are privately owned, regulatory authority to legislate restoration on private property is limited in scope and frequency. Washington States’ Shoreline Management Act (RCW 90.58) requires local jurisdictions to plan for appropriate future shoreline uses. Under the Act, future development can be regulated to protect existing ecological functions, but lost functions cannot be restored without purchase or compensation of restored areas. Therefore, questions remains as to the ecological resilience of the region when considering cumulative effect of existing/ongoing shoreline development constrained by limited shoreline restoration opportunities. In light of these questions, this analysis will explore opportunities to promote restoration on privately owned shorelines within Puget Sound. These efforts are intended to promote more efficient ecosystem management and improve ecosystem-wide ecological functions. From an economics perspective, results of past shoreline management can generally be characterized as both market and government failure in effectively protecting the publics’ interest in maintaining healthy shoreline resources. Therefore coastal development has proceeded in spite of negative externalities and market imbalances resulting in inefficient resource management driven by the individual ambitions of private shoreline property owners to develop their property to their highest and best use. Federally derived property rights will protect continuation of existing uses along privately owned shorelines; therefore, a fundamental challenge remains in sustainable management of existing shoreline resources while also restoring ecological functions lost to past mistakes in an effort to increase the ecologic resiliency within the region. (PDF contains 5 pages)

San Francisco Bay regional sediment management strategy development

The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), in continued partnership with the San Francisco Bay Long Term Management Strategies (LTMS) Agencies, is undertaking the development of a Regional Sediment Management Plan for the San Francisco Bay estuary and its watershed (estuary). Regional sediment management (RSM) is the integrated management of littoral, estuarine, and riverine sediments to achieve balanced and sustainable solutions to sediment related needs. Regional sediment management recognizes sediment as a resource. Sediment processes are important components of coastal and riverine systems that are integral to environmental and economic vitality. It relies on the context of the sediment system and forecasting the long-range effects of management actions when making local project decisions. In the San Francisco Bay estuary, the sediment system includes the Sacramento and San Joaquin delta, the bay, its local tributaries and the near shore coastal littoral cell. Sediment flows from the top of the watershed, much like water, to the coast, passing through rivers, marshes, and embayments on its way to the ocean. Like water, sediment is vital to these habitats and their inhabitants, providing nutrients and the building material for the habitat itself. When sediment erodes excessively or is impounded behind structures, the sediment system becomes imbalanced, and rivers become clogged or conversely, shorelines, wetlands and subtidal habitats erode. The sediment system continues to change in response both to natural processes and human activities such as climate change and shoreline development. Human activities that influence the sediment system include flood protection programs, watershed management, navigational dredging, aggregate mining, shoreline development, terrestrial, riverine, wetland, and subtidal habitat restoration, and beach nourishment. As observed by recent scientific analysis, the San Francisco Bay estuary system is changing from one that was sediment rich to one that is erosional. Such changes, in conjunction with increasing sea level rise due to climate change, require that the estuary sediment and sediment transport system be managed as a single unit. To better manage the system, its components, and human uses of the system, additional research and knowledge of the system is needed. Fortunately, new sediment science and modeling tools provide opportunities for a vastly improved understanding of the sediment system, predictive capabilities and analysis of potential individual and cumulative impacts of projects. As science informs management decisions, human activities and management strategies may need to be modified to protect and provide for existing and future infrastructure and ecosystem needs. (PDF contains 3 pages)

To pave or not to pave: A social landscape analysis of land use decision-making in the towns of the lamprey watershed

Population pressure in coastal New Hampshire challenges land use decision-making and threatens the ecological health and functioning of Great Bay, an estuary designated as both a NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserve and an EPA National Estuary Program site. Regional population in the seacoast has quadrupled in four decades resulting in sprawl, increased impervious surface cover and larger lot rural development (Zankel, et.al., 2006). All of Great Bay’s contributing watersheds face these challenges, resulting in calls for strategies addressing growth, development and land use planning. The communities within the Lamprey River watershed comprise this case study. Do these towns communicate upstream and downstream when making land use decisions? Are cumulative effects considered while debating development? Do town land use groups consider the Bay or the coasts in their decision-making? This presentation, a follow-up from the TCS 2008 conference and a completed dissertation, will discuss a novel social science approach to analyze and understand the social landscape of land use decision-making in the towns of the Lamprey River watershed. The methods include semi-structured interviews with GIS based maps in a grounded theory analytical strategy. The discussion will include key findings, opportunities and challenges in moving towards a watershed approach for land use planning. This presentation reviews the results of the case study and developed methodology, which can be used in watersheds elsewhere to map out the potential for moving towns towards EBM and watershed-scaled, land use planning. (PDF contains 4 pages)

Poverty alleviation among fishermen within the floodplains of Kaduna River: implication for introducing commercial fish farming at village level in Doko local government area of Niger State, Nigeria

A diagnostic survey was conducted among the fishermen in six selected villages in Doko Local Government Area of Niger State. One hundred and fifty fishermen were randomly selected and interviewed to find out whether or not they had interest in commercial fish farming aimed at improving their livelihood. The dwindling fish catches in the natural flood plain ponds and Ex-bow Lakes continue to have a serious negative effect on the socio-economic well being of the village communities in question. A break on natural regular annual flooding of the plains had resulted into very low natural fish recruitment. Data analysis using simple descriptive statistics revealed that land tenure system, educational status, inadequate infrastructural facilities, religious taboos, existing fish species among others were found to be favourable indices for commercial fish farming. However, serious conflicts among the fishermen concerning the ownership status of these natural fish ponds are found to be major obstacles to commercial fish farming despite that the traditional ownership of the ponds were vested in the lands of individuals and village communities. Extensive fish farming and small-scale fish farming in the ponds and Ex-bow Lake with improved management practices are considered to be profitable venture. Despite the fact that fish seeds supply and extension effort are still inadequate, the fish farmers have indicated willingness to adopt commercial fish farming in the Ex-bow Lakes and flood plains in order to restore abundant fish production thereby providing for their food security and also increasing the daily income

Impact assessment of Niger State fisheries legislation on fisheries conservation in Edozhigi local government area (L.G.A.) of Niger State

A preliminary survey was conducted among the fishermen in five selected villages in Edozhigi L.G.A. of Niger State. One hundred and fifty fishermen were randomly selected and interviewed to find out the impact of Niger State fisheries legislation on fisheries conservation resources in the area. The analysis of data collected using descriptive statistics indicated that undersized mesh of gill nets, beach seines and traps are being used unabated. Also, fenced barriers across the entrance of flood plain ponds and Ex-bow lakes from the main stream are in the area. The fisheries rules and regulations implementers are rarely seen or not seen at all in the area. The decreasing nature of fish catches was detected. It is observed that government policy on fish conversation is neglected due to inadequate or lack of funding for meaningful extension and implementation of the fisheries rules and regulations

Detection of specific bacteria in water: implications of survival strategy

It is widely recognised that conventional culture techniques may underestimate true viable bacterial numbers by several orders of magnitude. The basis of this discrepancy is that a culture in or on media of high nutrient concentration is highly selective (either through ”nutrient shock” or failure to provide vital co-factors) and decreases apparent diversity; thus it is unrepresentative of the natural community. In addition, the non-culturable but viable state (NCBV) is a strategy adopted by some bacteria as a response to environmental stress. The basis for the non-culturable state is that cells placed in conditions present in the environment cannot be recultured but can be shown to maintain their viability. Consequently, these cells would not be detected by standard water quality techniques that are based on culture. In the case of pathogens, it may explain outbreaks of disease in populations that have not come into contact with the pathogen. However, the NCBV state is difficult to attribute, due to the failure to distinguish between NCBV and non-viable cells. This article will describe experiences with the fish pathogen Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida and the application of molecular techniques for its detection and physiological analysis.

Newport's mooring regulations: legal and policy analysis

The legal and policy issues facing Newport as it revises and implements its ordinances are numerous. Most of the issues have not been squarely resolved for Rhode Island. While Newport may take guidance from other states, it will be Rhode Island's task going forward to define the reach of its PTD as applied to some novel issues raised by mooring administration. The benefit of the flexibility of the PTD is allowing smaller units of government like Newport to define their regulatory goals based on a locally-tailored balancing test of competing interests facing scarce ocean resources. This report was designed to facilitate decision-maker discussion of how to strike that delicate balance.

The Long Voyage to Including Sociocultural Analysis in NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service

The United States has managed and analyzed its marine fisheries since 1871, and since 1970 via NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). As the primary directive moved from aiding fishermen in expanding their operations emphasizing conservation, the government over time recognized that management involves influencing people not fish, and has hired social scientists to complement the biologists who assess fish populations. This change has not always been smooth. We use archival documents and oral histories to trace the development of sociocultural analytic capabilities within NMFS and describe future plans for growing the program. Four points are made. First, NMFS has created the best developed social science program in NOAA. Second, established institutions change slowly; achieving the social science presence in NMFS has taken over 25 years. Third, change needs visionaries and champions with both tenacity and opportunity. Fourth, social science data collection and research helps in making fishery management decisions, but they have also been useful in evaluating the impact and helping with the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Good work finds other uses.

Value chain analysis: shrimp, prawn and tilapia from the southern region of Bangladesh & feasibility analysis: brackish water sea-bass in the southern region in Bangladesh

The WorldFish Center is implementing the FtF Aquaculture Project in 20 southern districts in Bangladesh. The project is implemented under USAID’s Feed the Future initiative in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh. The project contributes to achieving the ‘Feed the Future’ goals through four objectives: (i) dissemination of improved quality fish and shrimp seed, (ii) improving the nutrition and income status of farm households, (iii) increasing investment, employment and fish production through commercial aquaculture and (iv) policy and regulatory reform and institutional capacity building to support sustainable aquaculture growth. The project commissioned this study to gather insights into the value chains of shrimp, prawn and tilapia in the project region and the feasibility of promoting culture of brackish water sea-bass in the region. The findings and recommendations are expected to provide the foundation for the project to design its interventions for achieving its goals.