Is there the will to manage fisheries at a local level in the European Union? A case study from Shetland

The failure of the command and control approach to fisheries management has encouraged governments to look for new ways of balancing the requirement to conserve fish stocks and yet maintain a flow of benefits that will meet economic and social targets. In the quest to establish a system for sustaining production in the Common Pond, the European Union (EU) has begun to investigate alternatives to the current management system. This research paper examines the problems associated with the current management regime operating in the EU in the light of alternatives for managing the fisheries. The research seeks to establish whether, given the serious problems confronting the EU's fishing industries, fishermen would be prepared to accept change and offer their ideas and support to develop an alternative management system. The research draws on the opinions of fishermen from Shetland and discusses the findings gained from interviewing key informants in conjunction with the results of an opinion survey of skippers and boat owners.     

The local environment of H ii galaxies

We have carried out an investigation of the environments of low redshift H  ii galaxies by cross-correlating their positions on the sky with those of faint field galaxies in the Automatic Plate Measuring Machine (APM) catalogues. We address the question of whether violent star formation in H  ii galaxies is induced by low-mass companions by statistically estimating the mean space density of galaxies around them. We argue that even if low-mass companions were mainly intergalactic H  i clouds, their optical counterparts should be detectable at faint limits of the APM scans.
A significantly positive signal is detected for the H  ii galaxy–APM galaxy angular cross-correlation function, but the amplitude is poorly determined. The projected cross-correlation function has a higher signal-to-noise ratio, and suggests that the amplitude is slightly lower than for normal field galaxies. This implies that these bursting dwarf galaxies inhabit slightly lower density environments than those of normal field galaxies, consistent with other studies of emission-line galaxies. This suggests that in these dwarf starburst galaxies, star formation is not always triggered by tidal interactions, and a significant fraction must have a different origin.     

Infrared photometry of z ∼ 1 3C quasars

We present JHKL ' photometry of a complete sample of steep-spectrum radio-loud quasars from the revised 3CR catalogue in the redshift range 0.65 z <1.20. After correcting for contributions from emission lines and the host galaxies, we investigate their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) around 1 μm. About 75 per cent of the quasars are tightly grouped in the plane of optical spectral index, α _opt, versus near-infrared spectral index, α _IR, with the median value of α _opt close to the canonical value, and the median α _IR slightly flatter. We conclude that the fraction of moderately obscured, red quasars decreases with increasing radio power, in accordance with the 'receding torus' model which can also explain the relatively flat median near-infrared spectra of the 3CR quasars. Two of the red quasars have inverted infrared spectral indices, and we suggest that their unusual SEDs might result from a combination of dust-scattered and transmitted quasar light.     

Supercritical gas sorption on moist coals

The effect of moisture on the CO₂ and CH₄ sorption capacity of three bituminous coals from Australia and China was investigated at 55 °C and at pressures up to 20 MPa. A gravimetric apparatus was used to measure the gas adsorption isotherms of coal with moisture contents ranging from 0 to about 8%. A modified Dubinin–Radushkevich (DR) adsorption model was found to fit the experimental data under all conditions. Moisture adsorption isotherms of these coals were measured at 21 °C. The Guggenheim–Anderson–de Boer (GAB) model was capable of accurately representing the moisture isotherms over the full range of relative pressures.Moist coal had a significantly lower maximum sorption capacity for both CO₂ and CH₄ than dry coal. However, the extent to which the capacity was reduced was dependent upon the rank of the coal. Higher rank coals were less affected by the presence of moisture than low rank coals. All coals exhibited a certain moisture content beyond which further moisture did not affect the sorption capacity. This limiting moisture content was dependent on the rank of the coal and the sorbate gas and, for these coals, corresponded approximately to the equilibrium moisture content that would be attained by exposing the coal to about 40–80% relative humidity. The experimental results indicate that the loss of sorption capacity by the coal in the presence of water can be simply explained by volumetric displacement of the CO₂ and CH₄ by the water. Below the limiting moisture content, the CO₂ sorption capacity reduced by about 7.3 kg t^− 1 for each 1% increase in moisture. For CH₄, sorption capacity was reduced by about 1.8 kg t^− 1 for each 1% increase in moisture.The heat of sorption calculated from the DR model decreased slightly on addition of moisture. One explanation is that water is preferentially attracted to high energy adsorption sites (that have high energy by virtue of their electrostatic nature), expelling CO₂ and CH₄ molecules.     

Changes in Arctic clouds during intervals of rapid sea ice loss

We investigate the behavior of clouds during rapid sea ice loss events (RILEs) in the Arctic, as simulated by multiple ensemble projections of the 21st century in the Community Climate System Model (CCSM3). Trends in cloud properties and sea ice coverage during RILEs are compared with their secular trends between 2000 and 2049 during summer, autumn, and winter. The results suggest that clouds promote abrupt Arctic climate change during RILEs through increased (decreased) cloudiness in autumn (summer) relative to the changes over the first half of the 21st century. The trends in cloud characteristics (cloud amount, water content, and radiative forcing) during RILEs are most strongly and consistently an amplifying effect during autumn, the season in which RILEs account for the majority of the secular trends. The total cloud trends in every season are primarily due to low clouds, which show a more robust response than middle and high clouds across RILEs. Lead-lag correlations of monthly sea ice concentration and cloud cover during autumn reveal that the relationship between less ice and more clouds is enhanced during RILEs, but there is no evidence that either variable is leading the other. Given that Arctic cloud projections in CCSM3 are similar to those from other state-of-the-art GCMs and that observations show increased autumn cloudiness associated with the extreme 2007 and 2008 sea ice minima, this study suggests that the rapidly declining Arctic sea ice will be accentuated by changes in polar clouds.     

Predicted changes in fire weather suggest increases in lightning fire initiation and future area burned in the mixedwood boreal forest

Forecasting future fire activity as a function of climate change is a step towards understanding the future state of the western mixedwood boreal ecosystem. We developed five annual weather indices based on the Daily Severity Rating (DSR) of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System and estimated their relationship with annual, empirical counts of lightning fire initiation for 588 landscapes in the mixedwood boreal forest in central-eastern Alberta, Canada from data collected between 1983 and 2001 using zero-inflated negative binomial regression models. Two indices contributed to a parsimonious model of initiation; these were Seasonal Severity Rating (SSR), and DSR-sequence count. We used parameter estimates from this model to predict lightning fire initiation under weather conditions predicted in 1 × CO₂ (1975–1985), 2 × CO₂ (2040–2049) and 3 × CO₂ (2080–2089) conditions simulated by the Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM). We combined predicted initiation rates for these conditions with existing empirical estimates of the number of fire initiations that grow to be large fires (fire escapes) and the fire size distribution for the region, to predict the annual area burned by lightning-caused fires in each of the three climate conditions. We illustrated a 1.5-fold and 1.8-fold increase of lightning fire initiation by 2040–2049 and 2080–2089 relative to 1975–1985 conditions due to changes in fire weather predicted by the CRCM; these increases were calculated independent of changes in lightning activity. Our simulations suggested that weather-mediated increases in initiation frequency could correspond to a substantial increase in future area burned with 1.9-fold and 2.6-fold increases in area burned in 2040–2049 and 2080–2089 relative to 1975–1985 conditions, respectively. We did not include any biotic effects in these estimates, though future patterns of initiation and fire growth will be regulated not only by weather, but also by vegetation and fire management.     

Consequences of change and variability in sea ice on marine ecosystem and biogeochemical processes during the 2007–2008 Canadian International Polar Year program

Change and variability in the timing and magnitude of sea ice geophysical and thermodynamic state have consequences on many aspects of the arctic marine system. The changes in both the geophysical and thermodynamic state, and in particular the timing of the development of these states, have consequences throughout the marine system. In this paper we review the ??consequences?? of change in sea ice state on primary productivity, marine mammal habitats, and sea ice as a medium for storage and transport of contaminants and carbon exchange across the ocean-sea-ice-atmosphere interface based upon results from the International Polar Year. Pertinent results include: 1) conditions along ice edges can bring deep nutrient-rich ??pacific?? waters into nutrient-poor surface waters along the arctic coast, affecting local food webs; 2) both sea ice thermodynamic and dynamic processes ultimately affect ringed seal/polar bear habitats by controlling the timing, location and amount of surface deformation required for ringed seal and polar bear preferred habitat 3) the ice edges bordering open waters of flaw leads are areas of high biological production and are observed to be important beluga habitat. 4) exchange of climate-active gases, including CO₂, is extremely active in sea ice environments, and the overall question of whether the Arctic Ocean is (or will be) a source or sink for CO₂ will be dependent on the balance of competing climate-change feedbacks.     

The induction and extraction of metallothioneins inArtemia

A small amount of heavy metal binding protein, identified by BioRad Protein Assay, has been isolated from the adult brine shrimp,Artemia franciscanus. This protein has an apparent molecular weight between 6000 to 9000 dalton. a UV absorption peak at 260 instead of 280 nm like most proteins; and has high affinity towards binding with radioactive labeled¹⁰⁹Cd. These characteristics are similar to that of metallothioneins reported for many vertebrate and invertebrate, marine and terrestrial animals. After the brine shrimp is exposed to a small amount of Cd²⁺ for 24 h, a large amount of metallothionein can be isolated, showing the inducibility of this detoxifying protein in the adultArtemia in a short period of time.