The National Marine Fisheries Service’s National Bycatch Strategy

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) launched its National Bycatch Strategy (NBS) in March 2003 in response to the continued fisheries management challenge posed by fisheries bycatch. NMFS has several strong mandates for fish and protected species bycatch reduction, including the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Despite efforts to address bycatch during the 1990’s, NMFS was petitioned in 2002 to count, cap, and control bycatch. The NBS initiated as part of NMFS’s response to the petition for rulemaking contained six components: 1) assess bycatch progress, 2) develop an approach to standardized bycatch reporting methodology, 3) develop bycatch implementation plans, 4) undertake education and outreach, 5) develop new international approaches to bycatch, and 6) identify new funding requirements. The definition of bycatch for the purposes of the NBS proved to be a contentious issue for NMFS, but steady progress is being made by the agency and its partners to minimize bycatch to the extent practicable.

Singapore's biomedical science sector development strategy: is it sustainable?

This paper outlines the strategic efforts undertaken by Singapore to establish its national capability in the biomedical science sector, reviews the commercial base as a result of these efforts and compares Singapore's approach to the UK and the US development models, discusses the challenges that Singapore faces and raises some questions on the long term sustainability of the sector.

Background Concepts for a Rotating Harvesting Strategy with Particular Reference to the Mediterranean Red Coral, Corallium rubrum

A simple cohort model was used as the basis for selecting the appropriate periodicity and number of separate unit areas in a rotating harvest scheme for a sedentary species, the red coral, Corallium rubrum, in the General Fisheries Management Council for the Mediterranean area. The rotation period in years, and hence the minimum number of unit areas involved, was determined on the basis of the time to maximum biomass by a simple calculation of the yield-per-recruit type, requiring a knowledge of natural mortality and growth rates. Other criteria may be more important, however, and in general for a long-lived species, will result in shorter rotation periods. These criteria may include economic factors, criteria based on the preferred size or quality of product, or criteria that take into account the cumulative risk of illegal fishing of closed areas with time, hence the growing cost of enforcement as harvestable product accumulates. For red coral, although maximum biomass is predicted to be reached after some 15-44 years, the above considerations suggest that a rotation period ofsome 9-15 years would be close to optimal, taking into account a range ofthe above considerations. This article discusses the relative merits of rotating harvest schemes in contrast to quota management for sedentary and semi-sedentary resources or geographically isolated substocks ofa mobile resource, and concludes that this approach may have considerable potential as an alternative approach to resource management.

Megaeventos e direito à moradia: como opera o empreendedorismo urbano no contexto do neodesenvolvimentismo. O caso do Parque Olímpico no Rio de Janeiro

Esta pesquisa busca investigar um processo em curso, onde a estratégia do empreendedorismo na gestão das políticas públicas urbanas vem se adaptando e se conformando ao atual contexto de política econômica chamada de neodesenvolvimentismo. Para isso, as parcerias público-privadas tem um papel fundamental na gestão do desenvolvimento urbano, no âmbito das três esferas de poder. Abordaremos, portanto, o histórico das reformas políticas do País que levaram a uma evolução da política de nacional-desenvolvimentismo ao novo desenvolvimentismo, para entendermos o contexto no qual as atuais parcerias público-privadas vem sendo desenvolvidas como modelo para de gerir o território. Mencionaremos também a legislação e os discursos por trás da defesa deste tipo de negócio entre o poder público e o setor privado. Ainda, como o país enfrentou a crise de 2008, chamada de crise das crises, utilizando esse modelo de gestão do território. Os megaeventos esportivos serão analisados como um fator catalizante da atração de investimentos e negócios para as cidades. No Rio de Janeiro, com a escolha da cidade para sediar os Jogos Olímpicos, e também sendo uma das cidades sedes da Copa do Mundo FIFA de 2014, várias de transformações territoriais se iniciaram. Com fortes indícios de que uma série de violações estava por vir, a fim de abrir espaço e ampliar o mercado dos investimentos privados. O Parque Olímpico, como principal local de competições das Olimpíadas de 2016, configura-se como uma imensa oportunidade de negócios com a iniciativa privada, localizado em área de ampla expansão do mercado imobiliário da cidade: a Barra da Tijuca. Diante disso, muitas comunidades pobres vem sofrendo com a política de deslocamento forçado para dar lugar aos investimentos no território. Neste contexto, está a comunidade Vila Autódromo, estabelecida bem ao lado do local de implementação do empreendimento. Sua remoção está prevista no estudo de viabilidade e no edital de concessão. Estudaremos a parceria público-privada realizada para a construção do Parque Olímpico, através da análise dos documentos relacionados ao seu processo licitatório e a escolha do consórcio vencedor. Ainda, como esse empreendimento tem impactado no caso da comunidade Vila Autódromo, que além de já ter sido alvo de outras tentativas de remoção, foi objeto de uma política de regularização fundiária no passado e tem um intenso histórico de resistência e de luta pela permanência.

Lakes - Classification & Monitoring: a strategy for the classification of lakes

This is the report on Lakes – Classification and Monitoring, a strategy for the classification of lakes by the National Rivers Authority. This report describes a scheme for the assessment and monitoring of water and ecological quality in standing waters, greater than about 1ha in area, in England and Wales although it is generally relevant to Northwest Europe. Thirteen hydrological, chemical and biological variables are used to characterize the standing water body in any current sampling. Statistical testing on the chemical variables showed that at least six samples during a year would be needed to produce a representative sampling mean; but in this scheme the choice of variables minimizes logistic cost by not using boat sampling and time costs by not demanding extensive taxonomic work. Standing waters are classified in a state-changed system in which the contemporary values of the variables are compared with a reference baseline state and then placed in categories of percentage change from this baseline. The scheme is presently designed for use at about five year intervals on all lakes greater than 2ha area plus additional lakes of significant amenity or conservation interest.