Highway Concessions: An Evaluation Methodology

The Transport Unit has developed a project evaluation methodology whereby benefits may be broken down by target groups. To date, this approach has been used in three highway concession projects in Argentina, Chile and Colombia. It is also applicable to other projects where it is important to know how benefits are to be distributed as well as what the overall benefits will be. For general inquiries and information on this methodology, please contact ithomson@eclac.cl.

Identification and phylogenetic inferences on stocks of sharks affected by the fishing industry off the Northern coast of Brazil

The ongoing decline in abundance and diversity of shark stocks, primarily due to uncontrolled fishery exploitation, is a worldwide problem. An additional problem for the development of conservation and management programmes is the identification of species diversity within a given area, given the morphological similarities among shark species, and the typical disembarkation of processed carcasses which are almost impossible to differentiate. The main aim of the present study was to identify those shark species being exploited off northern Brazil, by using the 12S-16S molecular marker. For this, DNA sequences were obtained from 122 specimens collected on the docks and the fish market in Bragança, in the Brazilian state of Pará. We identified at least 11 species. Three-quarters of the specimens collected were either Carcharhinus porosus or Rhizoprionodon sp, while a notable absence was the daggernose shark, Isogomphodon oxyrhyncus, previously one of the most common species in local catches. The study emphasises the value of molecular techniques for the identification of cryptic shark species, and the potential of the 12S-16S marker as a tool for phylogenetic inferences in a study of elasmobranchs.

Biotic and abiotic parameters at a subtropical fee-fishing farm

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

On the standardization of the fishing effort

In this note we demonstrate that the use of an index to standardize the fishing effort using the cpue of a standard vessel or gear is mistaken, once the cpues- catch per unit of total effort after standardization is similar to cpues - catch per unit of effort of the standard vesel or gear arbitrarily chosen.

Fishing Creek Presbyterian Church of Chester County Records

The Fishing Creek Presbyterian Church of Chester County Records include an historical statement (1839) on its origin and development by one of its pastors Rev. John B. Davies, and copies of entries for various sessions containing information on how the church handled misconduct of its members.

Study of the infrastructures and the fishing power in Gran Canaria

Máster en Gestión Sostenible de Recursos Pesqueros

An analysis of an international fishery: introduction to a fishery management strategy compatible with the fishing sector

Máster en Gestión Sostenible de Recursos Pesqueros

In silico target fishing for rationalized ligand discovery exemplified on constituents of Ruta graveolens

The identification of targets whose interaction is likely to result in the successful treatment of a disease is of growing interest for natural product scientists. In the current study we performed an exemplary application of a virtual parallel screening approach to identify potential targets for 16 secondary metabolites isolated and identified from the aerial parts of the medicinal plant RUTA GRAVEOLENS L. Low energy conformers of the isolated constituents were simultaneously screened against a set of 2208 pharmacophore models generated in-house for the IN SILICO prediction of putative biological targets, i. e., target fishing. Based on the predicted ligand-target interactions, we focused on three biological targets, namely acetylcholinesterase (AChE), the human rhinovirus (HRV) coat protein and the cannabinoid receptor type-2 (CB (2)). For a critical evaluation of the applied parallel screening approach, virtual hits and non-hits were assayed on the respective targets. For AChE the highest scoring virtual hit, arborinine, showed the best inhibitory IN VITRO activity on AChE (IC (50) 34.7 muM). Determination of the anti-HRV-2 effect revealed 6,7,8-trimethoxycoumarin and arborinine to be the most active antiviral constituents with IC (50) values of 11.98 muM and 3.19 muM, respectively. Of these, arborinine was predicted virtually. Of all the molecules subjected to parallel screening, one virtual CB (2) ligand was obtained, i. e., rutamarin. Interestingly, in experimental studies only this compound showed a selective activity to the CB (2) receptor ( Ki of 7.4 muM) by using a radioligand displacement assay. The applied parallel screening paradigm with constituents of R. GRAVEOLENS on three different proteins has shown promise as an IN SILICO tool for rational target fishing and pharmacological profiling of extracts and single chemical entities in natural product research.

Cryptic invertebrates on subtidal rocky reefs vary with microhabitat structure and protection from fishing

The deployment of flat concrete blocks on subtidal rocky reefs can replicate natural reef microhabitats and provides a means for standardized sampling of cryptic invertebrates. The shape of the cavity beneath the block is related to reef topography and may influence the invertebrate community by affecting the amount of space for cryptic fauna to colonise and influencing the effectiveness of their predator-defence mechanisms. To determine the effect of sub-block reef structure and different levels of external predators on cryptic molluscs and echinoderms, I deployed concrete blocks at locations inside and outside the Maria Island marine reserve in eastern Tasmania, Australia. Relationships between sub-block reef structure and the cryptic invertebrate assemblage were evident between locations, whereas only a small but significant proportion of variation of assemblages between blocks within location was explained by reef surface area. No clear association with external predation pressure was evident in multivariate analyses of variation in assemblage structure. Juvenile abalone Haliotis rubra were not influenced by micro-habitat structure but were significantly less abundant at protected locations, the only species to exhibit such a response. This result follows a decline of emergent adult abalone in the marine reserve and raises the possibility of recruitment failure of abalone at some fully protected locations in the longer term.