Opportunistic feeding of longhorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus): Are scallop fishery discards an important food subsidy for scavengers on Georges Bank?

There has been much recent interest in the effects of fishing on habitat and non-target species, as well as in protecting certain areas of the seabed from these effects (e.g. Jennings and Kaiser, 1998; Benaka, 1999; Langton and Auster, 1999; Kaiser and de Groot, 2000). As part of an effort to determine the effectiveness of marine closed areas in promoting recovery of commercial species (e.g. haddock, Melanogrammus aegelfinus; sea scallops, Placopecten magellanicus; yellowtail flounder, Limanda ferruginea; cod, Gadus morhua), nontarget species, and habitat, a multidisciplinary research cruise was conducted by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service. The cruise was conducted in closed area II (CA-II) of the eastern portion of Georges Bank during 19–29 June 2000 (Fig. 1). The area has historically produced high landings of scallops but was closed in 1994 principally for groundfish recovery (Fogarty and Murawski, 1998). The southern portion of the area was reopened to scallop fishing from 15 June to 12 November 1999, and again from 15 June to 15 August 2000. While conducting our planned sampling, we observed scallop viscera (the noncalcareous remains from scallops that have been shucked by commercial fishermen at sea) in the stomachs of several fish species at some of these locations, namely little skate (Raja erinacea), winter skate (R. ocellata), red hake (Urophycis chuss), and longhorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus). We examined the stomach contents of a known scavenger, the longhorn sculpin, to evaluate and document the extent of this phenomenon.

Accessibility, availability and affordability of anti-malarials in a rural district in Kenya after implementation of a national subsidy scheme.

BACKGROUND: Poor access to prompt and effective treatment for malaria contributes to high mortality and severe morbidity. In Kenya, it is estimated that only 12% of children receive anti-malarials for their fever within 24 hours. The first point of care for many fevers is a local medicine retailer, such as a pharmacy or chemist. The role of the medicine retailer as an important distribution point for malaria medicines has been recognized and several different strategies have been used to improve the services that these retailers provide. Despite these efforts, many mothers still purchase ineffective drugs because they are less expensive than effective artemisinin combination therapy (ACT). One strategy that is being piloted in several countries is an international subsidy targeted at anti-malarials supplied through the retail sector. The goal of this strategy is to make ACT as affordable as ineffective alternatives. The programme, called the Affordable Medicines Facility - malaria was rolled out in Kenya in August 2010. METHODS: In December 2010, the affordability and accessibility of malaria medicines in a rural district in Kenya were evaluated using a complete census of all public and private facilities, chemists, pharmacists, and other malaria medicine retailers within the Webuye Demographic Surveillance Area. Availability, types, and prices of anti-malarials were assessed. There are 13 public or mission facilities and 97 medicine retailers (registered and unregistered). RESULTS: The average distance from a home to the nearest public health facility is 2 km, but the average distance to the nearest medicine retailer is half that. Quinine is the most frequently stocked anti-malarial (61% of retailers). More medicine retailers stocked sulphadoxine-pyramethamine (SP; 57%) than ACT (44%). Eleven percent of retailers stocked AMFm subsidized artemether-lumefantrine (AL). No retailers had chloroquine in stock and only five were selling artemisinin monotherapy. The mean price of any brand of AL, the recommended first-line drug in Kenya, was $2.7 USD. Brands purchased under the AMFm programme cost 40% less than non-AMFm brands. Artemisinin monotherapies cost on average more than twice as much as AMFm-brand AL. SP cost only $0.5, a fraction of the price of ACT. CONCLUSIONS: AMFm-subsidized anti-malarials are considerably less expensive than unsubsidized AL, but the price difference between effective and ineffective therapies is still large.

Subsidy by Ascophyllum nodosum increases growth rate and survivorship of Patella vulgata

Limpets, predominantly Patella vulgata, have been associated with damaged or receding canopies of Ascophyllum nodosum. Although damage results from limpet grazing, the benefits that limpets gain from this behaviour are unclear as A. nodosum is thought to be well defended from grazers by anti-herbivore compounds. In the present study, R vulgata individuals were enclosed at densities between 80 and 320 m(-2) at 2 sites within Strangford Lough, Northern Island. Limpet growth and limpet survival were compared between unsubsidised controls and treatments in which limpet diets were subsidised by fronds of A. nodosum. When subsidised, limpet residual growth rates were significantly higher and mortality was lower than in unsubsidised control treatments. Individual limpets consumed a similar amount of A. nodosum regardless of limpet density. Higher densities of limpets, therefore, consumed more A. nodosum per replicate. The effects of A. nodosum in maintaining limpet densities could resonate through sheltered rocky communities. The importance of a macroalgal subsidy in supporting limpet populations may have been underestimated or overlooked in earlier studies. Therefore, the extensive and productive macroalgal canopies that characterise many sheltered temperate rocky shores could be more sensitive to increased limpet abundances than previously thought.

The role of subsidy in ensuring the sustainability of small-scale anaerobic digesters in Odisha, India

Small-scale anaerobic digester installation has been a development objective of the Indian government to provide rural households clean fuel. Anaerobic digester installation is heavily subsidised. Depending on caste, the rate of subsidy offered for the smallest system available (1m3) varies between 32.35% and 41.18% of the total installation price. Yet, there are gaps in knowledge regarding the usefulness of such subsidies from a sustainability perspective. A cost-benefit analysis was conducted to evaluate the circumstances required for digester sustainability. The analysis used household data collected from 115 cattle owning households in Odisha, India to evaluate profitability at three levels of subsidy (none, General caste subsidy, and Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe subsidy). Additional analyses considered the effect of; taking a loan, replacing electric lighting with biogas lighting, and the wealth level of the household. The results indicated that access to subsidy improved profitability. Yet, profitability could be achieved without the use of subsidy. The level of benefit accrued by households was similar independent of wealth. However, the provision of subsidy was essential for ensuring profitability for those households required to take a loan to meet the expense of installation. Such findings highlight the importance of subsidy as a means of including the poor.

Price and subsidy policy on soil conservation: application to smallholder tea growers

The role of commodity prices and subsidies on the adoption of soil conservation has been widely debated yet is poorly understood. One reason for this is the complex nature of the relationship between soil loss and yield damage. This paper examines the effects of price and subsidy policy on adoption of soil conservation measures in tea lands in Sri Lanka. The soil conservation technologies considered are lateral drains, stone terraces and Sloping Agricultural Land Technique (SALT). The study uses a non-linear yield damage function to estimate tea yield loss due to soil erosion. The yield function is then used in conjunction with a simple analytical model to examine the effects of changes in price and subsidies
on the incentives to adopt various soil conservation technologies. When there is a yield increment with soil conservation, increases in both prices and subsidies are found to make soil conservation economically attractive.

BMI and healthcare cost impact of eliminating tax subsidy for advertising unhealthy food to youth

INTRODUCTION: Food and beverage TV advertising contributes to childhood obesity. The current tax treatment of advertising as an ordinary business expense in the U.S. subsidizes marketing of nutritionally poor foods and beverages to children. This study models the effect of a national intervention that eliminates the tax subsidy of advertising nutritionally poor foods and beverages on TV to children aged 2-19 years. METHODS: We adapted and modified the Assessing Cost Effectiveness framework and methods to create the Childhood Obesity Intervention Cost Effectiveness Study model to simulate the impact of the intervention over the 2015-2025 period for the U.S. population, including short-term effects on BMI and 10-year healthcare expenditures. We simulated uncertainty intervals (UIs) using probabilistic sensitivity analysis and discounted outcomes at 3% annually. Data were analyzed in 2014. RESULTS: We estimated the intervention would reduce an aggregate 2.13 million (95% UI=0.83 million, 3.52 million) BMI units in the population and would cost $1.16 per BMI unit reduced (95% UI=$0.51, $2.63). From 2015 to 2025, the intervention would result in $352 million (95% UI=$138 million, $581 million) in healthcare cost savings and gain 4,538 (95% UI=1,752, 7,489) quality-adjusted life-years. CONCLUSIONS: Eliminating the tax subsidy of TV advertising costs for nutritionally poor foods and beverages advertised to children and adolescents would likely be a cost-saving strategy to reduce childhood obesity and related healthcare expenditures.

Demographic and phenotypic effects of human mediated trophic subsidy on a large Australian lizard (Varanus varius): meal ticket or last supper?

Humans are increasingly subsidizing and altering natural food webs via changes to nutrient cycling and productivity. Where human trophic subsidies are concentrated and persistent within natural environments, their consumption could have complex consequences for wild animals through altering habitat preferences, phenotypes and fitness attributes that influence population dynamics. Human trophic subsidies conceptually create both costs and benefits for animals that receive increased calorific and altered nutritional inputs. Here, we evaluated the effects of a common terrestrial human trophic subsidies, human food refuse, on population and phenotypic (comprising morphological and physiological health indices) parameters of a large predatory lizard (∼2 m length), the lace monitor (Varanus varius), in southern Australia by comparison with individuals not receiving human trophic subsidies. At human trophic subsidies sites, lizards were significantly more abundant and their sex ratio highly male biased compared to control sites in natural forest. Human trophic subsidies recipient lizards were significantly longer, heavier and in much greater body condition. Blood parasites were significantly lower in human trophic subsidies lizards. Collectively, our results imply that human trophic subsidized sites were especially attractive to adult male lace monitors and had large phenotypic effects. However, we cannot rule out that the male-biased aggregations of large monitors at human trophic subsidized sites could lead to reductions in reproductive fitness, through mate competition and offspring survival, and through greater exposure of eggs and juveniles to predation. These possibilities could have negative population consequences. Aggregations of these large predators may also have flow on effects to surrounding food web dynamics through elevated predation levels. Given that flux of energy and nutrients into food webs is central to the regulation of populations and their communities, we advocate further studies of human trophic subsidies be undertaken to evaluate the potentially large ecological implications of this significant human environmental alteration.

The need of subsidy for the implementation of photovoltaic solar energy as supporting of decentralized electrical power generation in Brazil

The growing demand for electrical power and the limited capital invested to provide this power is forcing countries like Brazil to search for new alternatives for electrical power generation. The purpose of this paper is to present a technical and economic study on a 15 kW solar plant installed in an isolated community, highlighting the importance of the need for financial subsidy from the government. It evaluates the importance of parameters such as the annual interest rate, specific investment, the marginal cost of expanding the electrical power supply and the government subsidy on amortization time of capital invested. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

Small economies' tariff and subsidy policies in the face of trade liberalization in the Americas

Includes bibliography