Long-term stability of the fish assemblages in a warm-temperate South African estuary

Little is known about long-term changes in estuarine fish populations and related environmental variations. Fishes in the temporarily open/closed East Kleinemonde Estuary were sampled bi-annually, in summer and winter, using seine and gill nets between December 1994 and July 2005. A total of 18 families, represented by 33 species, were recorded. The 10 most abundant species caught were consistently recorded in catches each year, but CPUE of individual species varied on an annual basis and this can often be related to mouth state. Multivariate analyses of the annual marine fish community identified two distinct groups, with more species recorded during years that succeeded spring (September to November) mouth-opening events than in years following no mouth-opening events in spring. Interannual community stability (IMD) and seriation (IMS) also increased from the years following no opening events in spring to the years that succeeded spring opening events. These results highlight the importance of the timing of mouth opening to the marine fish community in a temporarily open/closed estuary. This study reinforces the importance of long-term studies to understanding community changes in estuaries caused by environmental variations over different time scales.     

Determination of residence time and mixing processes of the Ubatuba,Brazil, inner shelf waters using natural Ra isotopes

Coastal waters contain elevated dissolved activities of short-lived radium isotopes, ²²³Ra and ²²⁴Ra, having half-lives of 11.4 and 3.66 days, respectively. The input of these isotopes near the coast must be balanced by decay and mixing into the open ocean, where excess activities are zero. Since the decay rate is known, in the ideal case the mixing rate may be determined from the offshore distribution of these isotopes. This study found that samples collected in June 2000 followed the expected exponential decrease with distance offshore. We assign a dispersion coefficient of 28–39 m² s⁻¹ for this study. During January 2002 and November 2003, there was not a consistent decrease of activity with distance offshore. This is likely due to the ruggedness of the coastline, where many bays and small islands interrupt simple mixing patterns. To estimate exchange rates during 2002 and 2003, we used a model based on the decrease in the ²²⁴Ra/²²³Ra activity ratio (AR) with time for samples isolated from fresh inputs of Ra. This model yielded residence times of 1–2 weeks for samples collected within 20 km of the coast. We used this residence time to calculate the flux of ²²⁸Ra (half-life = 5.7 years) to the study area necessary to maintain the enrichment relative to ocean water. This enrichment is a factor of ten greater than the flux of ²²⁸Ra expected from submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) occurring within 50 m of shore.     

Fluxes and behavior of radium isotopes, barium, and uranium in seven Southeastern US rivers and estuaries

This paper demonstrates the importance of advective transport of water through permeable estuarine and salt marsh sediments. This transport delivers significant quantities of radium and barium to the coastal ocean; and, in some cases may remove significant quantities of uranium. These conclusions are based on repeated analyses of seven river–estuarine systems from North Carolina to Florida. Fluxes of radium and barium from these river systems are shown to be inadequate to balance the dissolved inventories of these elements in the South Atlantic Bight. The strong interactions that occur between surface and subsurface waters as these rivers encounter coastal marshes lead us to consider these river mouths as marsh-dominated in terms of their chemical fluxes to the ocean. Such interactions between the river and coastal marsh must be considered when estimating fluxes of material between the land and ocean.     

Photochemical production of molecular hydrogen in lake water and coastal seawater

Samples of lake water and coastal seawater from Nova Scotia, Canada, were irradiated with natural or artificial sunlight to investigate the potential for photochemical hydrogen production. Hydrogen photo-production was observed in all natural water samples. Rates of hydrogen formation were highest in coloured lake water (range: 98–163 pmol L^− 1h^− 1) and lower in seawater (range: 19–45 pmol L^− 1 h ^− 1). Dilutions of the most highly coloured lake sample (Kejimkujik Lake) showed a positive linear relationship between H₂ production rates and CDOM concentration. Photo-production rates normalised to UV absorption coefficients at 350 nm indicated that the photochemical efficiency of hydrogen formation varied between samples, perhaps due to differences in the CDOM composition. Photochemical hydrogen formation was also seen in solutions of syringic acid and acetaldehyde: two low-molecular-weight carbonyl compounds found in natural waters. Photochemistry may therefore offer least a partial explanation for the persistently high levels of hydrogen observed in the low-latitude surface ocean.     

Evaluation of policy options for the live reef food fish trade in the province of Palawan,Western Philippines

The live reef food fish (LRFF) trade has an estimated annual retail value of US$1 billion in the Asia-Pacific region and at least US$30 million in the Philippines. Palawan Province is the trade's center accounting for as much as 55% of the commodity's total export. Concern about the LRFF trade has caused the Palawan Provincial government to take action to regulate the trade. Four key policy options to address the short-term policy objective of developing a sustainable LRFF industry through the reduction of threats associated with destructive fishing and overfishing were proposed. These four policy options and associated analyses were presented to stakeholders at three separate policy consultations. The stakeholders reached a consensus that a regulated LRFF trade was the most sensible option. As a result, the Provincial Government of Palawan took action to enact “The Palawan Live Reef Fish Ordinance of 2006”, which provides for the sustainable and integrated regulation of the LRFF industry. This provincial ordinance will assist in crafting a national policy for the LRFF trade and may also be useful in revising the 1998 Philippine Fisheries Code. The key challenge is how to translate the ordinance provisions into effective on-the-ground actions.     

A review of marine mammal,sea turtle and seabird bycatch in USA fisheries and the role of policy in shaping management

This paper reviews the available information (observer programs, estimates, statutes, regulations) for bycatch of marine mammals, sea turtles, and seabirds in fisheries of the United States. Goals of the review were to evaluate the state of knowledge of bycatch and the role of existing protective legislation in shaping bycatch management for different taxa. Pressing issues are identified, as well as knowledge gaps and policy limitations that hinder multi-species bycatch reduction. The USA has made important progress toward reducing bycatch in its fisheries, but the efficacy of its management has been limited somewhat by a focus on taxon- and fishery-specific regulation and the lack of consistent mandate across taxa for taking a cumulative perspective on bycatch. Applying consistent criteria across taxa for setting bycatch limits (e.g., extending the approach used for marine mammals to sea turtles and seabirds) would be the first step in a multi-species approach to bycatch reduction. A population-based multi-species multi-gear approach to bycatch would help identify priority areas where resources are needed most and can be used most effectively.     

Reproduction in the sea pen Funiculina quadrangularis (Anthozoa: Pennatulacea) from the west coast of Scotland

The sea pen Funiculina quadrangularis (Pallas, 1766) is a species of conservation concern in Scottish coastal waters, due to its restricted geographical distribution and high sensitivity to demersal fishing activities. Reproduction in F. quadrangularis was investigated in a population located in southern Loch Linnhe, west Scotland. This was accomplished through the analysis of trends in oocyte size-frequency distribution and relative fecundity over a 12-month period. Funiculina quadrangularis is dioecious and the study population exhibited a sex ratio of 1:1. Oogenesis in female F. quadrangularis is characterised by the maintenance of a large pool of asynchronously developing oocytes throughout the year, of which a small proportion (<10%) mature with increasing sychronicity and are spawned in midwinter. The reasons for this distinct pattern of oogenesis and winter spawning remain unclear, although the potential influence of environmental cues and the role of endogenous factors in relation to this sea pen's deep-sea habit are discussed. Whilst the duration of oogenesis is prolonged (>12 months), it is proposed that spawning is a brief and synchronous annual event. Relative fecundity is high and is independent of colony size, varying between approximately 500–2000 oocytes per 1 cm rachial midsection. This measure of fecundity exhibited pronounced seasonality and was significantly lower during the post-spawning winter months. Total fecundity in F. quadrangularis is considered to be high; although a small proportion of the total number of oocytes is spawned annually, this is compensated for by large colony size. Funiculina quadrangularis produces large oocytes (>800 μm), indicative of the production of lecithotrophic larvae.     

Mineralogy and petrogenesis of lunar magnesian granulitic meteorite Northwest Africa 5744

Lunar meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 5744 is a granulitic breccia with an anorthositic troctolite composition that may represent a distinct crustal lithology not previously described. This meteorite is the namesake and first‐discovered stone of its pairing group. Bulk rock major element abundances show the greatest affinity to Mg‐suite rocks, yet trace element abundances are more consistent with those of ferroan anorthosites. The relatively low abundances of incompatible trace elements (including K, P, Th, U, and rare earth elements) in NWA 5744 could indicate derivation from a highlands crustal lithology or mixture of lithologies that are distinct from the Procellarum KREEP terrane on the lunar nearside. Impact‐related thermal and shock metamorphism of NWA 5744 was intense enough to recrystallize mafic minerals in the matrix, but not intense enough to chemically equilibrate the constituent minerals. Thus, we infer that NWA 5744 was likely metamorphosed near the lunar surface, either as a lithic component within an impact melt sheet or from impact‐induced shock.     

Estimating Solar Flux Density at Low Radio Frequencies Using a Sky Brightness Model

Sky models have been used in the past to calibrate individual low radio frequency telescopes. In this article we generalize this approach from a single antenna to a two element interferometer, and formulate the problem in a way that allows us to estimate the flux density of the Sun using the normalized cross-correlations (visibilities) measured on a low resolution interferometric baseline. For wide field-of-view instruments, typically the case at low radio frequencies, this approach can provide robust absolute solar flux calibration for well characterized antennas and receiver systems. It can provide a reliable and computationally lean method for extracting parameters of physical interest using a small fraction of the voluminous interferometric data, which can be computationally prohibitively expensive to calibrate and image using conventional approaches. We demonstrate this technique by applying it to data from the Murchison Widefield Array and assess its reliability.     

Non-equilibrium flocculation characteristics of fine-grained sediments in grid-generated turbulent flow

Results are presented from a series of settling column experiments investigating temporal variations in the flocculation characteristics of purely cohesive (kaolin clay) sediment suspensions and cohesive (kaolin) and non-cohesive (fine sand) sediment fraction mixtures. Experimental runs were conducted under controlled hydrodynamic conditions generated by a rigid array of in-phase oscillating grids. The results indicated that rapid initial floc aggregation occurred under low turbulent shear rates, with peak maximal and root-mean-square (r.m.s.) floc sizes (∼ 400 μm and ∼ 200 μm, respectively) attained after relatively short time periods, before reducing with time. By contrast, lower aggregation rates and smaller floc sizes were observed under higher shear conditions, with flocs retaining suspended in the settling column for longer time scales due to the increased turbulence. The mud input concentration displayed some correlation with maximal and r.m.s. floc sizes at higher shear rates but no correlation was apparent at low shear rates. This observed floc behaviour may be attributed to the differences in concentration gradients at high and low shear rates that affect both floc settling rate and time required for flocs to attain equilibrium size. The addition of the fine sand fraction to the kaolin clay suspension reduced both the initial floc formation (i.e. aggregation) rate and the maximal and r.m.s. floc sizes attained throughout the experiments. The reduction in maximal floc sizes appeared to be enhanced by an increase in the ratio of fine sand to kaolin clay content within the mixture.