Libraries and alternative formats research

Good practice pointers

Guide to obtaining textbooks in alternative formats

Digital text benefits a wide range of learners, particularly disabled learners. For those with a visual impairment, it can be magnified or read out loud using synthetic speech. It can be navigated by heading and subheading levels, and text colours and backgrounds can be altered, both useful features for dyslexic learners. Definitions of unfamiliar words can be checked without leaving the text.

Libraries and alternative formats research

This series of five documents is a result of research carried out with a grant from CLAUD (a group of HE librarians in South West England who are working to help create libraries accessible to users with a disability). The research involved over 60 responses representing 49 different Higher Education Institutes (HEIs).

Getting information in alternative formats

For many learners, course materials in standard print format are difficult to use. Getting these in alternative formats could make a big difference but how do you find out what the options are? This guide seeks to provide an overview of the alternative formats available and how you can create them.

Simulierte Auswirkungen des mehrjährigen Bewirtschaftungsplans für die Dorschfischerei in der westlichen Ostsee und die Möglichkeit einer technischen Alternative

The cod stock in the Western Baltic Sea is assessed to be overfished regarding the definitions of the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development at Johannesburg in 2002. Thus, the European Fisheries Council enforced a multi-annual management plan in 2007. Our medium term simulations over the future 10 years assume similar stock productivity as compared with the past four decades and indicate that the goals of the management plan can be achieved through TAC and consistent effort regulations. Taking account of the uncertainty in the recruitment patterns, the target average fishing mortality of age groups 3 – 6 years of F = 0.6 per year as defined in the management plan is indicated to exceed sustainable levels consistent with high long term yields and low risk of depletion. The stipulated constraint of the annual TAC variations of ±15% will dominate future fisheries management and implies a high recovery potential of the stock through continued reductions in fishing mortality. The scientific assessment of sustainable levels of exploitation and consideration in the plan is strongly advised, taking account of uncertainties attributed to environmental and biological effects. We recommend our study to be complemented with economic impact assessments including effects on by-catch species, which have been disregarded in this study. It is further demonstrated, that the goals of the management plan can alternatively be achieved by mesh size adaptations. An alternative technical option of mesh size increases to realize the required reductions in fishing mortality provides avoidance of discards of undersized fish after a few years by means of improved selectivity, another important element of the Common Fisheries Policy. However, it is emphasized that technical regulations since 1990 failed to affect the by-catch and discards of juvenile cod. In any way, the meaningful implementation of the multiannual management plan through stringent control and enforcement appears critical.

Alternative Fangmethoden aus der Sicht der Fischereiforschung

Fischfanggeräte werden in der kommerziellen Fischerei und in der Fischereiforschung eingesetzt. In beiden Fällen werden hauptsächlich Schleppnetze verwendet. Schleppnetze sind jedoch nicht für alle Aufgabenstellungen der Fischereiforschung geeignet. Alternative in der Forschung verwendbare Untersuchungsgeräte und Methoden wurden bisher ohne überzeugenden Erfolg getestet. Schleppnetzen – insbesondere den Grundschleppnetzen der Berufsfischerei – werden sowohl die Meeresumwelt schädigende Einflüsse als auch unzureichende selektive Eigenschaften hinsichtlich Ziel- und Beifangarten nachgesagt. Die in der kommerziellen Fischerei der Ostsee verwendeten Schleppnetze üben aber nur einen geringen schädlichen Einfluss auf Bodenorganismen aus. Alternative ökosystemgerechte Fanggeräte wie Fischfallen können Schleppnetze bisher nicht ersetzen. Es werden Möglichkeiten aufgezeigt, die negativen Einflüsse auf die Meeresumwelt noch weiter zu verringern. Durch konstruktive Gestaltung der Schleppnetze (großmaschige Unterblätter im Vornetz, im Oberblatt reduzierte Grundschleppnetze) können Beifänge reduziert werden. Durch weitere Verbesserungen der Beschwerungs- und Spreizelemente an Grundschleppnetzen lassen sich die negativen Einflüsse auf den Meeresboden weiter reduzieren.

Wage stickiness and unemployment fluctuations: an alternative approach

28 p.

Developing a viable fish farming industry in Nigeria -- an alternative strategy to the strategy in the Green Revolution Programme

A study was embarked upon with the twin objectives of reviewing the Green Revolution Strategy for accelerating fish production in the country and proposing an alternative strategy, a private sector approach. Some of the programmes listed in the Green Revolution are very necessary for developing a viable - fish farming industry and that money spent under such programmes is money well spent. Programmes that are also desirable but need to be considerably expanded were identified. Other programmes have been criticised on the grounds that the method chosen to achieve the desired objectives is fraught with dangers if sufficiently long run view of fisheries development is taken

An evaluation of length-frequency sampling procedures and subsequent data analysis for purse seine-caught yellowfin tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean

ENGLISH: A two-stage sampling design is used to estimate the variances of the numbers of yellowfin in different age groups caught in the eastern Pacific Ocean. For purse seiners, the primary sampling unit (n) is a brine well containing fish from a month-area stratum; the number of fish lengths (m) measured from each well are the secondary units. The fish cannot be selected at random from the wells because of practical limitations. The effects of different sampling methods and other factors on the reliability and precision of statistics derived from the length-frequency data were therefore examined. Modifications are recommended where necessary. Lengths of fish measured during the unloading of six test wells revealed two forms of inherent size stratification: 1) short-term disruptions of existing pattern of sizes, and 2) transition zones between long-term trends in sizes. To some degree, all wells exhibited cyclic changes in mean size and variance during unloading. In half of the wells, it was observed that size selection by the unloaders induced a change in mean size. As a result of stratification, the sequence of sizes removed from all wells was non-random, regardless of whether a well contained fish from a single set or from more than one set. The number of modal sizes in a well was not related to the number of sets. In an additional well composed of fish from several sets, an experiment on vertical mixing indicated that a representative sample of the contents may be restricted to the bottom half of the well. The contents of the test wells were used to generate 25 simulated wells and to compare the results of three sampling methods applied to them. The methods were: (1) random sampling (also used as a standard), (2) protracted sampling, in which the selection process was extended over a large portion of a well, and (3) measuring fish consecutively during removal from the well. Repeated sampling by each method and different combinations indicated that, because the principal source of size variation occurred among primary units, increasing n was the most effective way to reduce the variance estimates of both the age-group sizes and the total number of fish in the landings. Protracted sampling largely circumvented the effects of size stratification, and its performance was essentially comparable to that of random sampling. Sampling by this method is recommended. Consecutive-fish sampling produced more biased estimates with greater variances. Analysis of the 1988 length-frequency samples indicated that, for age groups that appear most frequently in the catch, a minimum sampling frequency of one primary unit in six for each month-area stratum would reduce the coefficients of variation (CV) of their size estimates to approximately 10 percent or less. Additional stratification of samples by set type, rather than month-area alone, further reduced the CV's of scarce age groups, such as the recruits, and potentially improved their accuracy. The CV's of recruitment estimates for completely-fished cohorts during the 198184 period were in the vicinity of 3 to 8 percent. Recruitment estimates and their variances were also relatively insensitive to changes in the individual quarterly catches and variances, respectively, of which they were composed. SPANISH: Se usa un diseño de muestreo de dos etapas para estimar las varianzas de los números de aletas amari11as en distintos grupos de edad capturados en el Océano Pacifico oriental. Para barcos cerqueros, la unidad primaria de muestreo (n) es una bodega de salmuera que contenía peces de un estrato de mes-área; el numero de ta11as de peces (m) medidas de cada bodega es la unidad secundaria. Limitaciones de carácter practico impiden la selección aleatoria de peces de las bodegas. Por 10 tanto, fueron examinados los efectos de distintos métodos de muestreo y otros factores sobre la confiabilidad y precisión de las estadísticas derivadas de los datos de frecuencia de ta11a. Se recomiendan modificaciones donde sean necesarias. Las ta11as de peces medidas durante la descarga de seis bodegas de prueba revelaron dos formas de estratificación inherente por ta11a: 1) perturbaciones a corto plazo en la pauta de ta11as existente, y 2) zonas de transición entre las tendencias a largo plazo en las ta11as. En cierto grado, todas las bodegas mostraron cambios cíclicos en ta11a media y varianza durante la descarga. En la mitad de las bodegas, se observo que selección por ta11a por los descargadores indujo un cambio en la ta11a media. Como resultado de la estratificación, la secuencia de ta11as sacadas de todas las bodegas no fue aleatoria, sin considerar si una bodega contenía peces de un solo lance 0 de mas de uno. El numero de ta11as modales en una bodega no estaba relacionado al numero de lances. En una bodega adicional compuesta de peces de varios lances, un experimento de mezcla vertical indico que una muestra representativa del contenido podría estar limitada a la mitad inferior de la bodega. Se uso el contenido de las bodegas de prueba para generar 25 bodegas simuladas y comparar los resultados de tres métodos de muestreo aplicados a estas. Los métodos fueron: (1) muestreo aleatorio (usado también como norma), (2) muestreo extendido, en el cual el proceso de selección fue extendido sobre una porción grande de una bodega, y (3) medición consecutiva de peces durante la descarga de la bodega. EI muestreo repetido con cada método y distintas combinaciones de n y m indico que, puesto que la fuente principal de variación de ta11a ocurría entre las unidades primarias, aumentar n fue la manera mas eficaz de reducir las estimaciones de la varianza de las ta11as de los grupos de edad y el numero total de peces en los desembarcos. El muestreo extendido evito mayormente los efectos de la estratificación por ta11a, y su desempeño fue esencialmente comparable a aquel del muestreo aleatorio. Se recomienda muestrear con este método. El muestreo de peces consecutivos produjo estimaciones mas sesgadas con mayores varianzas. Un análisis de las muestras de frecuencia de ta11a de 1988 indico que, para los grupos de edad que aparecen con mayor frecuencia en la captura, una frecuencia de muestreo minima de una unidad primaria de cada seis para cada estrato de mes-área reduciría los coeficientes de variación (CV) de las estimaciones de ta11a correspondientes a aproximadamente 10% 0 menos. Una estratificación adicional de las muestras por tipo de lance, y no solamente mes-área, redujo aun mas los CV de los grupos de edad escasos, tales como los reclutas, y mejoró potencialmente su precisión. Los CV de las estimaciones del reclutamiento para las cohortes completamente pescadas durante 1981-1984 fueron alrededor de 3-8%. Las estimaciones del reclutamiento y sus varianzas fueron también relativamente insensibles a cambios en las capturas de trimestres individuales y las varianzas, respectivamente, de las cuales fueron derivadas. (PDF contains 70 pages)

Alternative income in Kainji Lake area: introduction of improved cocks to fisherfolk

Details are given of a study conducted in the framework of the Kainji Lake Fisheries Promotion Project to boost income from alternative sources. The project identified 'improved poultry keeping' as suitable for introduction around the Kainji Lake area. In the long term, the programme will assist increasing especially the income of female members of fishing families, since poultry is kept in the villages mainly by women. (PDF contains 35 pages)