Survey- and fishery-derived estimates of Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) biomass: implications for strategies to reduce interactions between groundfish fisheries and Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus)

Survey- and fishery-derived biomass estimates have indicated that the harvest indices for Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) within a portion of Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) critical habitat in February and March 2001 were five to 16 times greater than the annual rate for the entire Bering Sea-Aleutian Islands stock. A bottom trawl survey yielded a cod biomass estimate of 49,032 metric tons (t) for the entire area surveyed, of which less than half (23,329 t) was located within the area used primarily by the commercial fishery, which caught 11,631 t of Pacific cod. Leslie depletion analyses of fishery data yielded biomass estimates of approximately 14,500 t (95% confidence intervals of approximately 9,000–25,000 t), which are within the 95% confidence interval on the fished area survey estimate (12,846–33,812 t). These data indicate that Leslie analyses may be useful in estimating local fish biomass and harvest indices for certain marine fisheries that are well constrained spatially and relatively short in duration (weeks). In addition, fishery effects on prey availability within the time and space scales relevant to foraging sea lions may be much greater than the effects indicated by annual harvest rates estimated from stock assessments averaged across the range of the target spec

The Great Whales: History and Status of Six Species Listed as Endangered Under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973

In the history of whaling from prehistoric to modern times, the large whales, sometimes called the “great whales,” were hunted most heavily owing in part to their corresponding value in oil, meat, and baleen. Regional populations of North Atlantic right whales, Eubalaena glacialis glacialis, were already decimated by 1700, and the North Atlantic gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus, was hunted to extinction by the early 1700’s (Mitchell and Mead1).

The Threatened Status of Steller Sea Lions, Eumetopias jubatus, under the Endangered Species Act: Effects on Alaska Groundfish Fisheries Management

In April 1990, the Steller sea lion, Eumetopias jubatus, was listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act by emergency action. Competitive interactions with the billion-dollar Alaska commercial groundfish fisheries have been suggested as one of the possible contributing factors to the Steller sea lion population decline. Since the listing, fisheries managers have attempted to address the potential impacts of the groundfish fisheries on Steller sea lion recovery. In this paper, we review pertinent Federal legislation, biological information on the Steller sea lion decline, changes in the Alaska trawl fishery for walleye pollock, Theragra chalcogramma, since the late 1970's, andpossible interactions between fisheries and sea lions. Using three cases, we illustrate how the listing of Steller sea lions has affected Alaska groundfish fisheries through: I) actions taken at the time of listing designed to limit the potential for directhuman-related sea lion mortality, 2) actions addressing spatial and temporal separation of fisheries from sea lions, and 3) introduction of risk-adverse stock assessment methodologies and Steller sea lion conservation considerations directly in the annual quota-setting process. This discussion shows some of the ways that North Pacific groundfish resource managers have begun to explicitly consider the conservation ofmarine mammal and other nontarget species.

A mechanism for the link between solar-irradiance variations and regional precipitation

Although the mechanisms of climatic fluctuations are not completely understood, changes in global solar irradiance show a link with regional precipitation. A proposed mechanism for this linkage begins with absorption of varying amounts of solar energy by tropical oceans, which may aid in development of ocean temperature anomalies. These anomalies are then transported by major ocean currents to locations where the stored energy is released into the atmosphere, altering pressure and moisture patterns that can ultimately affect regional precipitation. Correlation coefficients between annual averages of monthly differences in empirically modeled solar-irradiance variations and annual state-divisional precipitation values in the United States for 1950 to 1988 were computed with lag times of 0 to 7 years. The highest correlations (R=0.65) occur in the Pacific Northwest with a lag time of 4 years, which is about equal to the travel time of water within the Pacific Gyre from the western tropical Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Alaska. With positive correlations, droughts coincide with periods of negative irradiance differences (dry, high-pressure development), and wet periods coincide with periods of positive differences (moist, low-pressure development).

Mesophotic coral ecosystems research strategy: international workshop to prioritize research and management needs for mesophotic coral ecosystems, Jupiter, Florida, 12-15 July 2008

On July 12-15, 2008, researchers and resource managers met in Jupiter, Florida to discuss and review the state of knowledge regarding mesophotic coral ecosystems, develop a working definition for these ecosystems, identify critical resource management information needs, and develop a Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems Research Strategy to assist the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other agencies and institutions in their research prioritization and strategic planning for mesophotic coral ecosystems. Workshop participants included representatives from international, Federal, and state governments; academia; and nongovernmental organizations. The Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems Workshop was hosted by the Perry Institute for Marine Science (PIMS) and organized by NOAA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The workshop goals, objectives, schedule, and products were governed by a Steering Committee consisting of members from NOAA (National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science’s Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research, the Office of Ocean Exploration and Research’s NOAA Undersea Research Program, and the National Marine Fisheries Service), USGS, PIMS, the Caribbean Coral Reef Institute, and the Bishop Museum.

Larval development of the sidestriped shrimp (Pandalopsis dispar Rathbun) (Crustacea, Decapoda, Pandalidae) reared in the laboratory

Larval development of the sidestriped shrimp (Pandalopsis dispar) is described from larvae reared in the laboratory. The species has five zoeal stages and one postlarval stage. Complete larval morphological characteristics of the species are described and compared with those of related species of the genus. The number of setae on the margin of the telson in the first and second stages is variable: 11+12, 12+12, or 11+11. Of these, 11+12 pairs are most common. The present study confirms that what was termed the fifth stage in the original study done by Berkeley in 1930 was the sixth stage and that the fifth stage in the Berkeley’s study is comparable to the sixth stage that is described in the present study. The sixth stage has a segmented inner flagellum of the antennule and fully developed pleopods with setae. The ability to distinguish larval stages of P. dispar from larval stages of other plankton can be important for studies of the effect of climate change on marine communities in the Northeast Pacific and for marine resource management strategies.

Excision of Sleeping Beauty transposons: parameters and applications to gene therapy

A major problem in gene therapy is the determination of the rates at which gene transfer has occurred. Our work has focused on applications of the Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon system as a non-viral vector for gene therapy. Excision of a transposon from a donor molecule and its integration into a cellular chromosome are catalyzed by SB transposase. In this study, we used a plasmid-based excision assay to study the excision step of transposition. We used the excision assay to evaluate the importance of various sequences that border the sites of excision inside and outside the transposon in order to determine the most active sequences for transposition from a donor plasmid. These findings together with our previous results in transposase binding to the terminal repeats suggest that the sequences in the transposon-junction of SB are involved in steps subsequent to DNA binding but before excision, and that they may have a role in transposase-transposon interaction. We found that SB transposons leave characteristically different footprints at excision sites in different cell types, suggesting that alternative repair machineries operate in concert with transposition. Most importantly, we found that the rates of excision correlate with the rates of transposition. We used this finding to assess transposition in livers of mice that were injected with the SB transposon and transposase. The excision assay appears to be a relatively quick and easy method to optimize protocols for delivery of genes in SB transposons to mammalian chromosomes in living animals. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.