Strategy on International Fisheries Research: an update

The Strategy on International Fisheries Research's activities on information and aquaculture in Asia, SubSaharan Africa, Latin and North America are presented.

Investing in Africa: the WorldFish Center's African strategy in summary

Across much of Africa, freshwater and coastal fisheries provide an important source of food and livelihood for many millions of people. In addition, the aquaculture potential of the continent has only recently begun to be developed. To help sustain these capture fisheries, support the emergence of aquaculture and foster the contribution of both to sustainable livelihoods and improved food security, the WorldFish Center is increasing its investment in Africa. The framework for this investment is provided by a new Strategy for Africa and West Asia 2002-2006 that identifies priorities for the Center’s work in rivers and floodplains, lakes and reservoirs, coastal fisheries, aquaculture, policy research and capacity building. The present article summarizes the issues being addressed by the Center and describes initial research priorities.

O empreendedorismo urbano na cidade do Rio de Janeiro: o Porto Maravilha e a consolidação de gestão estratégica

Ao longo das últimas décadas as cidades emergiram e se consolidaram no cenário mundial como protagonistas de nosso tempo num processo que envolve a reestruturação produtiva do capitalismo e o paradigma da globalização. As cidades passaram a ser cada vez mais o lócus da modernização do capital, o espaço necessário de sua produção e reprodução. Para legitimar este papel das cidades como novos atores políticos, o empreendedorismo urbano foi elencado enquanto um novo modelo de gestão que tem se difundido por diversas cidades sob o argumento de que apenas uma gestão urbana baseada na eficiência, na flexibilidade e nas parcerias público-privadas seriam capazes de superar a crise urbana e recolocar de forma competitiva as cidades no circuito dos fluxos globais. Entre as cidades que adotaram esta forma de governança urbana está o Rio de Janeiro, que desde os anos 90 através da confecção de um planejamento estratégico, tem buscado sua inserção no processo de modernização capitalista. Para isso tem se utilizado da imagem de cidade olímpica, amistosa e receptiva para os negócios e para o turismo, mas acima de tudo, tem renovado seu espaço urbano por meio de diversos projetos e intervenções pontuais, como o projeto Porto Maravilha, por exemplo. Tendo em vista esta realidade, este trabalho objetiva compreender o empreendedorismo urbano na cidade do Rio de Janeiro enquanto uma estratégia de ação que busca legitimar a parceria do setor público com o setor privado e concretizar um conjunto de políticas voltado para a renovação e valorização urbana pontual e fragmentada. Em vista dos diferentes projetos urbanos que estão sendo desenvolvidos atualmente na cidade, especialmente devido à realização da Copa do Mundo em 2014 e dos Jogos Olímpicos em 2016, o projeto Porto Maravilha foi escolhido como exemplo concreto dessa nova governança urbana por estar baseado nos pressupostos do empresariamento urbano. Para alcançar o objetivo da dissertação, estão sendo utilizadas fontes primárias e secundárias, autores basilares para os conceitos aqui utilizados, publicações recentes sobre a temática e idas à campo na Zona Portuária para acompanhamento do andamento do projeto. Os resultados da análise contida nesta dissertação caminham para a confirmação de que o modelo de empreendedorismo urbano foi adotado pela coalização gestora da cidade para legitimar a reestruturação capitalista do espaço através de um projeto de cidade centrado na parceria público-privada e em políticas públicas que favorecem determinados setores econômicos promovendo uma urbanização fragmentada e seletiva, corroborado pelo exemplo do Porto Maravilha.

Transgene expressions in seabass (Lates calcarifer) following muscular injection of plasmid DNA: a strategy for vaccine development?

Muscular injection has become one of the direct methods for transferring foreign DNA into organisms. The technique has been recently introduced in the development of vaccines and gene therapy. Vaccine development, in particular, would be desirable in managing viral diseases in farmed fish. In this study, the technique was performed on seabass (Lates calcarifer) and was found that the foreign gene could be transferred successfully through injection into the muscles.

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.

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.