Human Dimensions of Marine Fisheries: Using GIS to Illustrate Land-Sea Connections in the Northeast U.S. Herring, Clupea harengus, Fishery

Geographic Information Systems can help improve ocean literacy and inform our understanding of the human dimensions of marine resource use. This paper describes a pilot project where GIS is used to illustrate the connections between fish stocks and the social, cultural, and economic components of the fishery on land. This method of presenting and merging qualitative and quantitative data represents a new approach to assist fishery managers, participants, policy-makers, and other stakeholders in visualizing an often confusing and poorly understood web of interactions. The Atlantic herring fishery serves as a case study and maps from this pilot project are presented and methods reviewed.

Acid waters in North West England. The effect of liming agricultural land

This is the Acid waters in North West England: The effect of liming agricultural land on the chemistry and biology of the River Esk, North West England report produced by National Rivers Authority in 1992. This report focuses on the study of Acid Waters in the North West Region of England, UK, which began in 1982 and sampling was completed in October 1990. This work was initiated because of the observation of the simultaneous mortality of adult and juvenile salmon and sea-trout in both the River Esk and adjacent River Duddon in June 1980. Investigations at that time indicated that an "acid episode" was the most likely cause of this mortality. A land use study indicated that a reduction in agricultural liming may have been a major factor in the development of acid episodes and consequent fish kills in the River Esk and River Duddon. However there was no evidence that the mortalities of salmonids in the early 1980's were due to a reduction in agricultural liming. They were due to some other phenomenon such as a period of intense acid deposition.