Broad-scale distribution patterns of sardine and their predators in relation to remotely sensed environmental conditions during the KwaZulu-Natal sardine run

The annual movement of South African sardine Sardinops sagax up the east coast of South Africa, known as the ‘sardine run’, was investigated using data from aerial surveys for the period 1988–2005 and compared with remotely sensed sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll a data. Sardine sighting rates were highest within the Waterfall Bluff Bight off the Eastern Cape Coast, where conditions appeared to be most favourable. Sardine and predator sightings decreased significantly northwards of Mdoni on the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) coast, whereas the proportion of nearshore sightings increased. The causal mechanism for this inshore concentration is suggested to be the influx of warm Agulhas Current water from the Durban Eddy that forces sardine shoreward. Cape gannet Morus capensis, common dolphin Delphinus capensis and sardine distributions were associated, and there was an association between SST and sardine and predator distributions. There was a marked increase in bottlenose dolphin Tursiops aduncus sightings upon commencement of the sardine run, with these dolphins being consid-ered to be a ‘migratory’ stock that enters KZN waters every winter.     

Morphometric variation in the cutlassfish Trichiurus lepturus on the Kenyan coast: implications for stock identification and management

Morphometric variation was used to study population structure of the cutlassfish Trichiurus lepturus on the Kenyan coast. In all, 16 morphometric measurements taken from 193 individuals from six sites were subjected to multivariate statistical analysis in order to determine possible stock differentiation. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated significant differences in the means of a combination of the morphometric characters among the sites, and discriminant function analysis by groups showed the presence of phenotypically distinct populations on the south and north coasts of Kenya. A classification tree analysis of morphometric characters validated the distinct groups and indicated certain characters to be useful for classifying specimens to source sites. The likely presence of distinct north and south stocks of T. lepturus on the Kenyan coast observed in our study will require validation by other methods, but indicates the potential need for spatially explicit models for managing fish populations on a large spatial scale.     

Baja California's Biological Transition Zones: Refuges for the California Sardine

The information on the transitional areas between the temperate and tropical domains at the southern extent of the California Current System is reviewed and described, particularly searching for the relative isolation or interchange between the western coast of the Baja California peninsula and the Gulf of California, as well as mechanisms that permit the existence of sizeable stocks of California sardine. Biological Action Centers that have high productivity throughout the year, as opposed to the rest of the coastal area, are found in both the western coast of the peninsula at the Sebastián Vizcaíno—Punta Eugenia region and in the Ballenas Channel inside the gulf; these features support large biomasses of sardine throughout the full year and serve as long term refuges during adverse periods. The role of the Sebastián Vizcaino sardine stock as the primary group for expansion is examined. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Spatial variability in branchial basket meristics and morphology of southern African sardine Sardinops sagax

We examined spatial variability in meristic and morphological characteristics of the branchial basket of sardine Sardinops sagax collected from four geographical regions around the southern African coast, namely Namibia and the South African west, south and east coasts. Our analysis tested the hypothesis of three putative sardine stocks off South Africa, one in each of the three geographical regions. We therefore collected fish data from Namibia to compare with South Africa, because sardine from the two countries are considered to be separate stocks. Morphometric measurements (gill arch length and gill raker spacing) and meristic data (number of gill rakers) were collected from the left side of the first gill arch from a total of 377 sardine, approximately equally divided between the regions. A multivariate general linear model with caudal length as covariate was used to assess differences among fish from the four regions and significant differences were observed, although not always consistently across all fish size classes. Small South Coast sardine had shorter gill arches than small West Coast sardine, but adults had gill arches of similar length, longer than those from Namibia and the East Coast. Small sardine from the South Coast had fewer gill rakers than small sardine from the West Coast, but larger fish had similar numbers of gill rakers, significantly more than sardine from Namibia and the East Coast. Sardine from the West and South coasts had similar gill raker spacings, which were smaller than those of fish from the East Coast and Namibia. Despite spatially and particularly temporally unbalanced sampling, we consider that these differences provide evidence of spatial variation in Benguela sardine phenotype and that it would support the hypothesis of discrete sardine stocks off Namibia and South Africa. The results are consistent with the hypothesis of three sardine stocks within the southern Benguela.     

Spatial variation in meristic and morphometric characteristics of sardine Sardinops sagax around the coast of southern Africa

Spatial variability in phenotypic characteristics within a fish population may be used to infer the existence of multiple stocks, and knowledge of the population structure of exploited species is important for their sustainable management. In this study we investigated geographic variability in meristic (vertebral count) and morphometric (body shape) characteristics of sardine Sardinops sagax from three southern African regions: Namibia, the South African west coast, and the South African south coast. There were significant regional differences in vertebral counts, with Namibian fish tending to have more vertebrae than South African fish, but with no difference between sardine off the South African west and south coasts. Body shape was characterised using morphometric landmarks, and shape changes were investigated using geometric morphometrics, with influences on fish shape assessed using multivariate regressions. To remove the effects of allometry, the 22 shape variables (represented by Procrustes coordinates) were regressed against fish size (represented by centroid size). There was a significant allometric effect, which was removed by using the residuals of these regressions in further analyses. A multivariate multiple regression was applied to the 22 size-corrected shape variables and to three covariates: condition factor, stomach fullness and fat stage. The significant influence of these covariates was removed by using the residuals from this regression in a canonical variate analysis, where corrected shape variables were classified in relation to region, year and sex. The Mahalanobis distances from the canonical variate analysis differed significantly for most combinations of classifier variables, with clear separations among the three regions. Sardinops sagax off Namibia had thicker bodies and more contracted tail regions than South African fish, whereas S. sagax off the South African south coast had thinner bodies and smaller heads than those off the west coast. These results support the hypothesis of multiple sardine stocks around southern Africa.     

Biological characteristics of sardine caught by the beach-seine fishery during the KwaZulu-Natal sardine run

Catches of sardine Sardinops sagax made by the beach-seine fishery off the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) coast during the annual winter sardine run have been sampled intermittently since 1951, and a substantial amount of data on various biological characteristics of sardine caught off KZN now exists. Information on length frequency distributions, mean caudal length (CL), length–mass relationships, condition factor (CF), age distributions, sex ratio, gonad maturity and diet have been collated and are presented in this paper. Sardine caught off the KZN coast during the past six decades had a mean CL of 17.4 cm (SD 2.0) and have shown a significant increasing trend in mean CL through time; had substantially lower mass-at-length compared to fish that did not participate in the sardine run; have shown two distinct periods of decrease in CF between 1979 and 2005; ranged in age from 1 to 7 years but were numerically dominated by younger fish (1-, 2- or 3-year-olds); had a 1:1 sex ratio and gonads that were predominantly actively developing and undergoing maturation and vitellogenesis; and had a diet dominated by zooplankton, primarily calanoid and harpactacoid copepods and fish eggs. These characteristics, together with some information on meristic and morphological characteristics of sardine caught off KZN, are compared to characteristics of sardine from elsewhere off South Africa's coast to assess the possibility that the former may be a distinct stock or a functionally discrete adult assemblage. Significant differences in characteristics such as CF, vertebral count and body shape were found, supporting the hypothesis that KZN sardine represent a distinct stock or a functionally discrete adult assemblage. However, small sample sizes and plausible alternative explanations for these differences weaken, but do not invalidate, this hypothesis, and further work is needed to answer this question.     

春季我国不同纬度河口浮游动物群落变化趋势

根据2010-2012年春季由南向北河口海域：北仑河口、九龙江口、瓯江口、长江口和灌河口的浮游动物调查资料;通过比较不同纬度河口浮游动物群落的生物多样性指数（H''）、物种更替率（R）和群落相似系数（S）;探讨了河口浮游动物群落特征沿着不同纬度变化的趋势。结果表明;自南向北5个河口可以划分为3个不同的浮游动物区系。北仑河口和九龙江口为南部亚热带区系;位于亚热带海域;以亚热带种为主;H''分别为1.01和2.18;两河口之间R值为65.52%;S值为51.28%;瓯江口和长江口为中部过渡区系;位于亚热带和温带过渡海域;亚热带种和暖温带种是主要出现的种类;H''分别为1.31和1.86;两河口之间R值为58.33%;S值为58.82%;灌河口单独为北部温带区系;位于温带海域;暖温带种是主要出现的种类;H''值为1.19;与其余河口物种更替率均高于80.00%;群落相似系数均低于32.00%;表明群落结构由南到北的变化非常显著。线性回归结果表明：我国不同河口之间浮游动物的物种更替率与纬度差（两河口所处纬度的差值;δN）呈正相关关系（R=0.026ΔN+0.608;p=0.002）;群落相似系数与纬度差呈负相关关系（S=0.034ΔN+0.578;p=0.001）。春季;我国不同纬度河口浮游动物群落结构的变化;主要是因为影响各河口的水温和水团存在较大差别所致。     

The 2005 KwaZulu-Natal sardine run survey sheds new light on the ecology of small pelagic fish off the east coast of South Africa

Despite much public awareness surrounding the annual migration of sardine Sardinops sagax northward along the east coast of South Africa in winter each year, relatively little research effort has been expended to improve understanding of the ‘sardine run’. For this reason, a dedicated multidisciplinary survey, timed to coincide with the annual sardine run, was conducted off the East Coast in June and July of 2005. The major objective of the survey was to estimate the biomass of sardine off the East Coast during the run, and to compare this with biomass estimates collected during previous surveys conducted in this area during the late 1980s when the South African sardine population was at a considerably smaller size. We also collected data on the distribution of sardine and other small pelagic fish species and their eggs, the biological characteristics of sardine during the run, and data on the hydrography (temperature and currents) and lower trophic levels (phytoplankton and zooplankton) of the region. Results suggest that the biomass of sardine off the East Coast in winter remains relatively small and consistent, regardless of overall sardine population size. The narrow continental shelf to the east of Port Alfred, which is dominated offshore by the fast-flowing warm Agulhas Current, constrains the amount of suitable habitat for sardine and other clupeoids such as anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus, West Coast round herring Etrumeus whiteheadi and East Coast round herring Etrumeus teres, and hence precludes these species from attaining a high biomass in this region. Additionally, primary and secondary productivity levels are much lower than elsewhere on the western and eastern Agulhas Bank off the south coast of South Africa, suggesting that the sardine run is not a feeding migration. A previous hypothesis that the run is mainly a result of an expansion of the distributional range of these fish as conditions become favourable in winter due to sporadic cooling off the East Coast is also not entirely supported by results from the survey. It is suggested that a migration for the purposes of spawning off this coast when conditions become favourable is a more likely incentive for sardine to undertake this arduous journey, despite increased predation and poor feeding conditions.     

Genetic variation and population structure in the New Zealand snapper

Fifteen proteins encoded by 23 gene loci were electrophoretically surveyed in two samples of snapper Chrysophrys auratus (Forster) from Wellington Harbour and the Hauraki Gulf. Between 17% and 26% of the loci examined were found to be polymorphic and the proportion of heterozygous loci per individual was 7.9% to 8.4%. Using Rogers’ genetic distance coefficient an overall similarity of 0.98 was calculated between the two samples.

Three polymorphic loci Est‐4, Gpi‐1, and Idh were examined in an additional 10 samples from around New Zealand. Two genetically distinct stocks were apparent: one along the west coast, the other along the east coast of the North Island. There was an indication of stock mixing at Ninety Mile Beach and in the Bay of Plenty and East Cape. The distribution of alleles at the Est‐4 locus revealed a third stock in Hawke Bay that is genetically more similar to the west coast than the east coast stock. Hydrological conditions in Hawke Bay are more similar to those of the west coast than to those of the north east coast of the North Island. Thus it is possible that Est‐4 alleles are selectively maintained in response to an environmental factor.     

Assessing the South African sardine resource: two stocks rather than one?

Sardine Sardinops sagax distributed off the west and south coasts of South Africa have traditionally been assumed to comprise a single well-mixed stock for assessment and management purposes. New research, however, lends weight to the possibility of two stocks in this region. A precautionary management approach thus needs to consider the impact of management decisions on the hypothesised two individual stocks as well as on the resource as a whole. As a first step in this process, Bayesian assessments of South African sardine are presented, which compare results for the traditional single-stock hypothesis with those that follow from a new two-mixing-stock hypothesis. Recruits from the west stock are assumed to move to and remain part of the south stock in annual pulses of varying size. This movement is estimated to be appreciable, and to take place from a substantially more productive west stock to the south stock. This immigration makes a greater contribution to the south-stock biomass than do years of above-average south-stock recruitment. Importantly, this two-mixing-stock hypothesis is shown to be consistent with the data available. Further alternative sardine stock-structure hypotheses suggested by the most recent data are discussed.     

Socio-economic aspects of boat-based ecotourism during the sardine run within the Pondoland Marine Protected Area,South Africa

Understanding recreational aspects of the tourism industry developing around the KwaZulu-Natal sardine run is important for the protection and sustainability of the Pondoland Marine Protected Area (MPA), on the south-east coast of South Africa. Between June and July 2007, a total of 128 people visited this area to experience the sardine run using boat-based access. An onsite questionnaire survey of 108 (84.4%) participants at Port St Johns and Mbotyi indicated that the direct value of their visit was around R5.47 million (95% CI = R5.14–5.82 million). Although the benefits of the sardine run tourism industry extend throughout the South African economy, local indigenous communities receive little direct benefit. Almost half of all sardine run participants, however, showed a willingness to contribute R500 or more towards a community development programme. On a ranking from one (poor) to five (excellent), the average participant's response to overall quality of the experience and quality of the dive charter was 3.9 and 4.4, respectively. Over a quarter (27%) of participants never saw a sardine during their visit, despite the fact that their trip was marketed as ‘the sardine run’, so participant experiences often did not meet with expectations. The sardine run within the Pondoland MPA is currently an undermarketed and underexploited resource.     

A comparison of condition factor and gonadosomatic index of sardine Sardinops sagax stocks in the northern and southern Benguela upwelling ecosystems, 1984–1999

Time-series of condition factor (CF) and gonadosomatic index (GSI) were generated using general linear models (GLM) for sardine Sardinops sagax stocks in the northern and southern Benguela ecosystems over the period 1984–1999. During this period the biomass of sardine in the northern Benguela remained at relatively low levels of <500 000 tons, whereas that of southern Benguela sardine increased 40-fold to 1.3 million tons. The GLMs explained 27 and 45% of the observed variation in CF, and 32 and 28% of the observed variation in GSI, for sardine in the northern and southern Benguela subsystems respectively. Whereas the sardine CF in the northern Benguela remained stable over time, that for the southern Benguela stock declined steadily during the study period. Sardine CF showed a seasonal cycle in the southern but not in the northern Benguela. Time-series of GSI showed high interannual variability but no trends in either subsystem, and the seasonal pattern was similar for both stocks. The lack of coherence between the CF time-series for sardine in the two subsystems further suggests that sardine stocks in the northern and southern Benguela subsystems are independent.     

A comparative analysis of recruitment variability in North Atlantic flatfishes — testing the species range hypothesis

The hypothesis that recruitment variation in flatfishes should be most variable at the northern edge of the species range, least near the centre of the range, and intermediate near the southern limit was tested using stock and recruitment data generated from sequential population analysis for several different flatfish stocks involving four species (plaice Pleuronectes platessa, sole Solea vulgaris from the eastern Atlantic, American plaice Hippoglossoides platessoides, and yellowtail flounder Limanda ferruginae from the western Atlantic). Several groundfish species have been found to conform to this so-called species range hypothesis with the suggestion that density-independent processes predominate at the edges of the distributional range and density-dependent processes dominate in the centre of the range. Our results were generally inconsistent with the hypothesis: the coefficient of variation (CV) of recruitment for plaice in the eastern Atlantic was independent of latitude, the CV of recruitment for sole exhibited a dome-shaped relationship with latitude with the highest CVs occurring at the mid-point of the range, and the CV of recruitment for the western Atlantic stocks exhibited a monotonic decrease with latitude. We extended our latitudinal analyses by assessing both the degree of dependency of recruitment on spawning stock biomass and the spatial and temporal scales of variability in recruitment and pre-recruit survival for the eastern Atlantic stocks. In general our analysis revealed no evidence of a strong stock and recruitment relationship for any of the stocks examined, and previously published analyses revealed no such patterns with latitude. Analysis of both de-trended recruitment and pre-recruit survival time series over the species ranges of sole and plaice revealed strong positive correlations among adjacent stocks and inverse correlations among stocks at the extremes of the range. Recruitment variation in the flatfish stocks examined appears to be dominated by density-independent factors, operating at a local scale, on the egg and larval stages.     

Phylogenetic and morphometric relationships between two species of genus Auxis from the South China Sea and Java Sea

This study was aimed at examining the phylogenetic and morphometric relationship of frigate tuna(Auxis thazard) and bullet tuna(Auxis rochei) using mt DNA D-loop(control) region sequences and truss measurements,respectively. Maximum-likelihood(ML) tree and median-joining network showed that haplotypes from Auxis populations grouped separately. Discriminant function analyses and non-metric multidimensional scaling of morphometric data showed that bullet and frigate tuna were differed mainly with respect to truss measurements on the anterior region, suggesting adaptation to different diets available in different environments. Historic demographic analyses of sequence data showed that both bullet and frigate tuna had not undergone a significant sudden population expansion recently. Non-significant value of Tajimas' s D and Fu's F_S were indicated an effective large and stable population size for longer period of both species in South China Sea and Java Sea species. This study gives first report on the complementary relationship between morphometric and genetic analysis in stock discrimination of genus Auxis.     

War,fish, and foreign fleets: The marine fisheries catches of Sierra Leone 1950–2015

In countries like Sierra Leone, where stock assessments based on fisheries-independent data and complex population models are financially and technically challenging, catch statistics may be used to infer fluctuations in fish stocks where more precise data are not available. However, FAO FishStat, the most widely-used time-series data on global fisheries ‘catches’ (actually ‘landings’), does not account for Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) catches and relies on statistics provided by the national agencies of each member country. As such, reported FishStat data is vulnerable to changes in monitoring capacity, governmental transitions, and budgetary constraints, and may substantially underestimate the measure of extracted marine resources. In this report, Sierra Leone's total catches by all marine fishing sectors were estimated for the period 1950–2015, using a catch reconstruction approach incorporating national data, expert knowledge, and both peer-reviewed and grey literature. Results demonstrate that a substantial amount of marine resource exploitation is not represented in official statistics, and reconstructed catches represent more than 2.25 times the recorded FAO Fishstat values. Notably, foreign fleets take the vast majority of industrial catch in Sierra Leone's EEZ, indicating that most of the resource catch and revenue is diverted to foreign companies and export markets. While foreign actors dominate the industrial sector, the small-scale sector represents the majority of domestic catch. Illegal fishing is also a substantial challenge in Sierra Leone, and extracts a large amount of the country's marine fish resources. Reconstructing catches in Sierra Leone also highlights the impacts of various historical events such as Sierra Leone's civil war and post-war reconstruction on the development of the fisheries sector. The results found in the reconstruction present a large discrepancy from FishStat data, with considerable implications for assessment of stocks and management of Sierra Leone's marine resources.     

Ocean robotics in support of fisheries research and management

South Africa’s small-pelagic fishery is a socio-economically important component of the country’s commercial fisheries sector, second in value only to the demersal trawl fishery. Management of this sector relies on infrequent hydro-acoustic surveys, which provide measures of anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus and sardine Sardinops sagax biomass used in the assessments of stock status and in the development of management plans for the sustainable utilisation of these resources. We demonstrate how technological capabilities in ocean robotics at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) could augment the current resource-intensive hydro-acoustic ship-based survey programme and create opportunities for expanding its spatial and temporal resolution. We successfully implement and demonstrate an autonomous wave glider, fitted with a hydro-acoustic sensor and compare the data to a collocated ‘traditional’ ship-based acoustics survey. In the future these autonomous systems approaches could be seen as a means to lessen the cost burden of the ship-based survey, while at the same time with the added advantage of continuous collection over much wider spatial and temporal domains. This could enable a more reflexive stock management approach taking into account the seasonal characteristics of the fishery and its ecosystem. Gliders thus have potential to increase dramatically the quantity of information available to fisheries managers, thereby reducing uncertainty and contributing to improved management of valuable fish resources. They are likely to contribute to improved knowledge of the ecology of small pelagic fish species off the coast of South Africa in a changing climate and should potentially also permit the collection of biomass data for other marine resources currently not routinely monitored.     

石鲽野生群体和养殖群体遗传多样性的ISSR分析

采用简单序列重复区间(ISSR)技术,对石鲽的3个野生群体——青岛群体(QD)、威海群体(WH)、莱州群体(LZ)和一个养殖群体(YZ)进行了遗传多样性研究.结果表明,从60个ISSR引物中筛选出8个ISSR引物对四个群体的基因组DNA进行扩增,共获得183个重复性好且5谱清晰的位点,4个群体的多态位点比例为48.1%~50.8%,Shannon多样性值为15.68~18.53,群体内个体间遗传相似度为0.9053~0.9189,群体间的遗传距离为0.0055~0.0173.同其他鱼类相比,石鲽群体的遗传多样性水平较低.用UPGMA方法构建的群体进化树显示,WH群体和LZ群体遗传距离最近,首先聚在一起,两者然后与YZ群体聚类,最后与QD群体相聚.利用基因分化系数进行遗传变异来源估算,结果表明石鲽群体96.47%的遗传变异来源于群体内,群体间的遗传变异仅占3.53%,不同群体间的遗传相似度较大.     

Surviving off junk: low-energy prey dominates the diet of African penguins Spheniscus demersus at Mercury Island,Namibia, between 1996 and 2009

The diet of African penguins Spheniscus demersus in Namibia consisted mainly of sardine Sardinops sagax in the 1950s. Since the collapse of pelagic fish stocks in the 1970s, birds fed mainly on bearded (pelagic) goby Sufflogobius bibarbatus, a low-energy prey species. We present diet data for African penguins breeding at Mercury Island, the largest colony for this species in Namibia, between 1996 and 2009. Bearded goby was the main prey item throughout the study period, both in terms of frequency of occurrence (67.8%; SD 31.2) and in terms of mass (59.2%; SD 31.5). Diet composition varied throughout the year as well as between years; birds occasionally fed on a variety of fish species other than bearded goby. In Namibia, poor prey abundance is considered as a major factor contributing to the decline of penguin numbers after the collapse of the sardine stocks. However, bearded goby appears to be relatively abundant along Namibia's southern coast and low prey quality rather than low abundance appears to be a key factor influencing population dynamics of African penguins and other marine top predators in southern Namibia.     

Sustainable management of wild Irish Atlantic salmon: Keys found through the looking-glass

The recent moratorium on the commercial at-sea driftnet fishery for wild Irish Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) attempts to halt the decline witnessed in these stocks over the past three decades. The research investigated stakeholder attitudes to the perceived effects on stock recovery, in Irish rivers and estuaries, of seal predation and seal culling. Structured interviews conducted with 10 key stakeholders during June 2007 revealed divisive attitudes and a feeling of powerlessness in relation to stock recovery, which are impeding successful management of salmon stocks. However, areas of common ground exist between stakeholders, which lay the foundation for a sustainable way forward.     

Climate variability and the Icelandic marine ecosystem

This paper describes the main features of the Icelandic marine ecosystem and its response to climate variations during the 20th century. The physical oceanographic character and faunal composition in the southern and western parts of the Icelandic marine ecosystem are different from those in the northern and the eastern areas. The former areas are more or less continuously bathed by warm and saline Atlantic water while the latter are more variable and influenced by Atlantic, Arctic and even Polar water masses to different degrees. Mean annual primary production is higher in the Atlantic water than in the more variable waters north and east of Iceland, and higher closer to land than farther offshore. Similarly, zooplankton production is generally higher in the Atlantic water than in the waters north and east of Iceland. The main spawning grounds of most of the exploited fish stocks are in the Atlantic water south of the country while nursery grounds are off the north coast. In the recent years the total catch of fish and invertebrates has been in the range of 1.6–2.4 million ton. Capelin (Mallotus villosus) is the most important pelagic stock and cod (Gadus morhua) is by far the most important demersal fish stock. Whales are an important component of the Icelandic marine ecosystem, and Icelandic waters are an important habitat for some of the largest seabird populations in the Northeast Atlantic.In the waters to the north and east of Iceland, available information suggests the existence of a simple bottom-up controlled food chain from phytoplankton through Calanus, capelin and to cod. Less is known about the structure of the more complex southern part of the ecosystem. The Icelandic marine ecosystem is highly sensitive to climate variations as demonstrated by abundance and distribution changes of many species during the warm period in the 1930s, the cold period in the late 1960s and warming observed during the recent years. Some of these are highlighted in the paper.