Half the fishers in the world

Tracing the road ahead for women in fisheries in Asia, a continent that produces the most fish and supports the largest number of fishers in the world.

Stock enhancement in Japan and Taiwan

Stock enhancement has been recognized as one of the essential strategies that can sustain and increase the resources of coastal fisheries. It has been practiced for over a century, with more than 100 species released to date in worldwide programs. Among the countries in Asia, Japan and Taiwan have already established the practice of stock enhancement. Details are given of the main species, number or seedstock produced and released in 1996 in Japan. The species released by the Taiwan Fisheries Research Institute 1976-1995 are also described.

Sustainability in aquaculture

Sustainable aquaculture in Asia is discussed, considering in particular the loss of mangroves associated with the rapid increase in production of cultured shrimp. Southeast Asia's development and population growth brought non-sustainable exploitation of its coastline; the destruction has increased through the years as development proceeded and the international markets entered the scenario. An outline is given of the current status of mangroves in some Asian countries. Some worldwide remedies for sustainable aquaculture are described.

Management of water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes, in Lake Victoria Basin

Water hyacinth is a free-floating waterweed native to the Amazon River Basin in South America. In its native range, water hyacinth is not an environmental problem, although the weed is one of the most invasive alien plants in freshwater environments. Water hyacinth has the potential to become invasive through fast vegetative reproduction and rapid growth to accumulate huge biomass and extensive cover in freshwater environments. Over the last 150 years water hyacinth has invaded most countries in the tropics and sub-tropics, introduced by man, mainly for ornamental purposes. Such introductions led to the infestation of most freshwater-ways in the southern United States of America, parts of Australia, the pacific islands, and most countries in Asia and Africa. The extensive tightly packed mats of water hyacinth are often associated with devastating socio-economic and environmental impacts. Invasion by the weed has, therefore, often generated urgent costly problems associated with the weed biomass and its management. A classic example of such problems was triggered by the invasion and proliferation of water hyacinth in the Lake Victoria Basin during the 1980s (Freilink 1989, Taylor 1993, Twongo et al., 1995). The weed infestation marked the beginning of a decade of intensive and systematic campaign by the three riparian states (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) to bring weed proliferation under control. The discussions in this Chapter span over ten years of dealing with the challenges paused by the imperative to manage infestations of water hyacinth in the Lake Victoria Basin. The challenges included the need to understand the dynamics of water hyacinth infestation; its distribution, proliferation and impact modalities; and the development and implementation of appropriate weed control strategies and options. Most specific examples were taken from the Ugandan experience (NARO, 2002).

Perspectives of impacts of international fish trade in Kenya

There has been tremendous growth in international trade on fish and fisheries products in the last four decades. In 1970 the value of internationally traded fish was estimated at 3 billion; this increased to US$ 15 billion in 1980, US$ 36 billion in 1990 and US$ 55 billion in 2000 (Ahmed, 2003). Recent statistics show that fish trade has surpassed other agricultural commodities that have traditionally been traded internationally such as coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, cereals, meat, oils and milk. In 2000, fish contributed 22% of the value of all agricultural exports, making it the highest internationally traded food product (Ahmed, 2003). In another perspective, nearly 40% of the world's fish is now sold in the international market. The flow of fish in the international market is highly lopsided. About 50% of fish exportscomefromthedevelopingworld ,ofwhich 20%arefrom low-incomefood deficient countries. Most of this fish, however, is consumed by the developed countries, which account for nearly 80% of all imported fish. The EU, USA and Japan are the major importers, accounting for over 77% of global fish imports. Thus, while developing countries playa big role in fish production , they consume very little of it, instead preferring to sell for the hard currency. In some fish exporting countries, especially those in Asia, there is some link between fish exports and imports of substitute and complementary foods. Much of the increased earning from fish exports in those countries is explained by a corresponding rise in expenditure on imported foods. This is not the case in many of the fish exporter nations in Africa. In their case, fish exports generate foreign exchange that they use to meet other socio-political objectives; hardly is it aimed at solving the wider food needs. Therefore, one of the most immediate concerns of international fish trade is its impact on food security in the poor exporter nations.

Temperature-Dependent Growth and Life Cycle of Nemoura sichuanensis (Plecoptera: Nemouridae) in a Chinese Mountain Stream

Plecoptera constitute a numerically and ecologically significant component in mountain streams all over the world, but little is known of their life cycles in Asia. The life cycle of Nemoura sichuanensis and its relationship to water temperature was investigated during a 4-year study in a headwater stream (known as the Jiuchong torrent) of the Xiangxi River in Central China. Size structure histograms suggest that the life cycle was univoltine, and the relationships between the growth of Nemoura sichuanensis, physiological time, and effective accumulated water temperature were described using logistic regressions. The growth pattern was generally similar within year classes but growth rates did vary between year-classes. Our field data suggest a critical thermal threshold for emergence in Nemoura sichuanensis, that was close to 9 degrees C. The total number of physiological days required for completing larval development was 250 days. The effective accumulated water temperature was 2500 degree-days in the field. Development during the life cycle increased somewhat linearly with the physiological time and the effective accumulated water temperature, but some non-linear relationships were best developed by logistic equations.

Multiple in-to-Africa dispersals of labeonin fishes (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) revealed by molecular phylogenetic analysis

An out-of-Africa dispersal route has been proposed for many organisms, including modern man. However, counter examples of in-to-Africa dispersal routes are less common. In the present article, the phylogenetic relationships within the Labeoninae, a subfamily of cyprinid fishes distributed in Asia and Africa, were analyzed to investigate the biogeographic processes governing the modern distribution of these Asian and African cyprinids. The mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b gene was used as a molecular marker. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that the subfamily Labeoninae is a monophyletic group, with some Asian labeonins located at the basal position. Two subclades were found that contained both African and Asian species, which highlighted a need for further biogeographic analysis. Based on this analysis, it is proposed that the centre of origin of the Labeoninae was in East Asia. Molecular clock estimation suggests that the Labeoninae arose by the Early Miocene (similar to 23 MYA) during the period of the second Tibetan uplift. Subsequently, two dispersal events of labeonins from Asia into Africa occured in the Early Miocene (similar to 20 MYA) and Late Miocene (similar to 9 MYA) and serve as examples counter to out-of-Africa dispersal.

Geographical distribution of testate amoebae in Tibet and northwestern Yunnan and their relationships with climate

In Asia, especially in China, our knowledge of the distribution of testate amoebae is still limited. In this paper, the geographical distribution of testate amoebae in Tibetan Plateau and northwestern Yunnan Plateau, southwest China and their relationships with the climatic factors have been studied. We found testate amoebae shifted in the most dominant species and increased in species (or genus) richness from northwest to southeast. Further, the linear regression analyses revealed that both species richness and genus richness have higher positive correlations with the mean temperature of the warmest month and annual mean precipitation as contrasted with the mean altitude, which showed weak negative correlation. This indicates that the temperature and precipitation are more significant influences on the richness than the altitude. The cluster analysis based on the community structure, defined by Sorenson's coefficient matrix, suggested four groups from the 10 physiographical regions. This geographical distribution pattern was also closely related with the climatic regionalization. The present climatic regionalization pattern of the study area originated from the uplift of Tibetan Plateau and mainly occurred in or after the late Pleistocene. Therefore, the geographical distribution of testate amoebae in our study area may have experienced complicated and drastic changes corresponding to the variation of the climate caused by the geological events.

Long-term changes of Copepoda community (1957-1996) in a subtropical Chinese lake stocked densely with planktivorous filter-feeding silver and bighead carp

In contrast to the relatively well documented impact of particulate-feeding fish on zooplankton communities, little attention has been devoted to the impact of filter-feeding fish. Filter-feeding silver and bighead carp are the most intensively cultured fish species in Asia and comprise much of the production of Chinese aquaculture. However, little information is known about the impact of either fish on the zooplankton community. Long-term changes in the Copepoda community (1957-1996) were studied at two sampling stations of a subtropical Chinese lake (Lake Donghu) dominated by silver and bighead carp. For both calanoids and cyclopoids, the littoral station (I) was much more resource profitable than the pelagic station (II). There has been a tremendous increase in the annual fish catch over the past 30 years due to the increased stocking with fingerlings of the two carp species. There was a notably higher fish density at Station I than at Station II. Cyclopoid abundance was notably higher at Station I than at Station II during the 1950s to the 1980s, while the reverse became true in the 1990s. This is probably because when fish abundance increased to an extremely high level, the impact of fish predation on the cyclopoids became more important than that of food resources at the littoral station. At both stations, cyclopoid abundance was relatively low in spite of the presence of abundant prey. Similarly, calanoid density did not differ significantly between the two stations in the 1950s and 1960s, but was significantly lower at Station I than at Station II during the 1980s and 1990s. Such changes are attributed to the gradient of fish predation between the stations and an increasing predation pressure by the fish. The increased fish predation also correlated with a shift in summer-dominant calanoids from larger species to smaller ones. In conclusion, the predaceous cyclopoids are affected by fish predation to a much lesser extent than the herbivorous calanoids, and therefore increased predation by filter-feeding fish results in a definite increase in the cyclopoid/calanoid ratio. Predation by filter-feeding fish has been a driving force in shaping the copepod community structure of Lake Donghu during the past decades.

Monitoring and simulation of water, heat,and CO2 fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems based on the APEIS-FLUX system

The Integrated Environmental Monitoring (IEM) project, part of the Asia-Pacific Environmental Innovation Strategy (APEIS) project, developed an integrated environmental monitoring system that can be used to detect, monitor, and assess environmental disasters, degradation, and their impacts in the Asia-Pacific region. The system primarily employs data from the moderate resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS) sensor on the Earth Observation System- (EOS-) Terra/Aqua satellite,as well as those from ground observations at five sites in different ecological systems in China. From the preliminary data analysis on both annual and daily variations of water, heat and CO2 fluxes, we can confirm that this system basically has been working well. The results show that both latent flux and CO2 flux are much greater in the crop field than those in the grassland and the saline desert, whereas the sensible heat flux shows the opposite trend. Different data products from MODIS have very different correspondence, e.g. MODIS-derived land surface temperature has a close correlation with measured ones, but LAI and NPP are quite different from ground measurements, which suggests that the algorithms used to process MODIS data need to be revised by using the local dataset. We are now using the APEIS-FLUX data to develop an integrated model, which can simulate the regional water,heat, and carbon fluxes. Finally, we are expected to use this model to develop more precise high-order MODIS products in Asia-Pacific region.

Plastid microsatellites for the study of genetic variability in the widespread Cephalanthera longifolia, C. damasonium and C. rubra (Neottieae, Orchidaceae), and cross-amplification in other Cephalanthera species

Plastid microsatellite loci developed for Cephalanthera longifolia were used to examine the level of genetic variation within and between populations of the three widespread Cephalanthera species (C. damasonium, C. longifolia and C. rubra). The most detailed sampling was in C. longifolia (42 localities from Ireland to China; 147 individuals). Eight haplotypes were detected. One was detected in the vast majority of individuals and occurred from Ireland to Iran. Three others were only found in Europe (Ireland to Italy, England to Italy and Austria to Croatia). Two were only found in the Middle East and two only in Asia. In C. damasonium, 21 individuals from 10 populations (England to Turkey) were sampled. Only one haplotype was detected. In C. rubra, 34 individuals from eight populations (England to Turkey) were sampled. Although it was not possible to amplify all loci for all samples of this species, nine haplotypes were detected. Short alleles for the trnS-trnG region found in two populations of C. rubra were characterized by sequencing and were caused by deletions of 26 and 30 base pairs. At this level of sampling, it appears that C. rubra shows the greatest genetic variability. Cephalanthera longifolia, C. rubra and C. damasonium have previously been characterized as outbreeding, outbreeding with facultative vegetative reproduction and inbreeding, respectively. Patterns of genetic variation here are discussed in the light of these reproductive system differences. The primers used in these three species of Cephalanthera were also demonstrated to amplify these loci in another five species (C. austiniae, C. calcarata, C. epipactoides, C. falcata and C. yunnanensis). Although it is sometimes treated as a synonym of C. damasonium, the single sample of C. yunnanensis from China had a markedly different haplotype from that found in C. damasonium. All three loci were successfully amplified in two achlorophyllous, myco-heterotrophic species, C. austinae and C. calcarata. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London.

The occurrence and significance of triploidy in the liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica.

Karyotyping of Fasciola hepatica samples from Britain and Ireland has identified a triploid isolate which is effectively aspermic, rendering it necessarily asexually reproducing. Considering the extensive presence of asexually reproducing diploid and triploid Fasciola in Asia it is suggested that facultative gynogenesis is widespread in this parasite. This has important implications for the population genetics and evolution of Fasciola, especially in relation to the development and spread of drug resistance, and must be considered in the mathematical modelling of this process.

The reform of Welfare Regimes in Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay

The aim of this article is to analyze the social policy in Latin America in a context of emerging welfare states. To understand the changes one takes into consideration the theories about institutional reform and the transformations produced in the XX century and the beginning of the XXI to substitute a social security regime mainly based on segmentation of benefi ts and on programs to fi ght poverty by another with an institutional and redistributive nature. The paper pays attention in particular to the path of the most developed welfare states of Latin America: Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina, Brasil y Uruguay.