A review of EU bio-economic models for fisheries: The value of a diversity of models

The lessons learned from a review of thirteen existing European bio-economic models used in the evaluation of EU policies are presented. How these models compare and differ in terms of their biological and economic components, the integration between the components, which indicators are selected and how they are used, are described and analysed. The article concludes that the multitude of construction differences reflects the necessity of adapting the modelling approach to answer different questions. Since real life questions in fisheries are so diverse, answering them requires a diversity of models.     

Stable isotope constraints on the fluid source of hydrothermal breccia pipes in the Tankwa Karoo depocentre,South Africa: Breakdown of authigenic minerals during sill intrusion

The Karoo Basin covers much of South Africa and is an area of prospective shale gas exploration, with the Whitehill Formation the target shale unit. However, the sedimentary succession, including the Whitehill, has been intruded by a series of sills and dykes associated with the Karoo Large Igneous Province (~183 Ma), which are expected to have modified the thermal history of the basin dramatically. Here, we investigate a secondary effect of these intrusions: a series of hydrothermal vent complexes, or breccia pipes, focusing on using O, H, and C isotopes to constrain the origin and evolution of fluids produced during the intrusion of basaltic sills. A cluster of breccia pipes have been eroded down to the level of the Ecca Group at Luiperdskop on the western edge of the Karoo basin; a small isolated pipe of similar appearance crops out 13 km to the east. The Luiperdskop pipes are underlain by a Karoo dolerite sill that is assumed to provide the heat driving fluidization. The pipes consist of fine‐grained matrix and about 8% clasts, on average, of mostly sedimentary material; occasional large rafts of quartzite and dolerite are also present. The presence of clasts apparently from the Dwyka Group is consistent with the depth of formation of the pipes being at, or near, the base of the Karoo Supergroup, between 400 and 850 m below present surface. The presence of chlorite as the dominant hydrous mineral is consistent with an emplacement temperature between 300 and 350°C. The major and trace element, and O‐ and H‐isotope composition of the Tankwa breccias is homogenous, consistent with them being derived from the same source. The δ¹⁸O values (vsVSMOW) of the breccias are relatively uniform (7.1‰–8.7‰), and are similar to that of the country rock shale, and both are lower than expected for shale. The water content of the breccia is between 2.7 and 3.1 wt.% and the δD values range from ?109‰ to ?144‰. Calcite in vesicles has δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O (VSMOW) values of ?4.2‰ and 24.0‰, respectively. The low δD value of the breccia rocks does not appear to be due to the presence of methane in the fluid. Instead, it is proposed that low δD and δ¹⁸O values are the result of the fluid being derived from the breakdown of clay minerals that formed and were deposited at a time of cold climate at ~290 Ma.     

Major changes in ice stream dynamics during deglaciation of the north-western margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet

Victoria Island lies at the north-western limit of the former North American (Laurentide) Ice Sheet in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and displays numerous cross-cutting glacial lineations. Previous work suggests that several ice streams operated in this region during the last (Wisconsinan) glaciation and played a major role in ice sheet dynamics and the delivery of icebergs into the Arctic Ocean. This paper produces the first detailed synthesis of their behaviour from the Last Glacial Maximum through to deglaciation (～21–9.5 cal ka BP) based on new mapping and a previously published radiocarbon-constrained ice sheet margin chronology. Over 70 discrete ice flow events (flow-sets) are ‘fitted’ to the ice margin configuration to allow identification of several ice streams ranging in size from large and long-lived (thousands of years) to much smaller and short-lived (hundreds of years). The reconstruction depicts major ice streams in M'Clure Strait and Amundsen Gulf which underwent relatively rapid retreat from the continental shelf edge at some time between ～15.2 and 14.1 cal ka BP: a period which encompasses climatic warming and rapid sea level rise (meltwater pulse-1a). Following this, overall retreat was slower and the ice streams exhibited asynchronous behaviour. The Amundsen Gulf Ice Stream continued to operate during ice margin retreat, whereas the M'Clure Strait Ice Stream ceased operating and was replaced by an ice divide within ～1000 years. This ice divide was subsequently obliterated by another short-lived phase of ice streaming in M'Clintock Channel ～13 cal ka BP. The timing of this large ice discharge event coincides with the onset of the Younger Dryas. Subsequently, a minor ice divide developed once again in M'Clintock Channel, before final deglaciation of the island shortly after 9.5 cal ka BP. It is concluded that large ice streams at the NW margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, equivalent in size to the Hudson Strait Ice Stream, underwent major changes during deglaciation, resulting in punctuated delivery of icebergs into the Arctic Ocean. Published radiocarbon dates constrain this punctuated delivery, as far as is possible within the limits imposed by their precision, and we note their coincidence with pulses of meltwater delivery inferred from numerical modelling and ocean sediment cores.     

Sinusoidal variables from the Tycho Epoch Photometry Annex

The Tycho Epoch Photometry Annex A, a data base of photometry of more than 34 000 bright stars, has been searched for periodic variable stars with approximately sinusoidal light curves. Advantage was taken of special properties of the observing programme (photometry in two wavebands, availability of repeated measurements) to use simple but efficient variable selection criteria. Details of 70 strong candidate variables are presented.