Diel effects on bottom-trawl survey catch rates of shallow- and deep-water Cape hakes Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus off Namibia,using solar zenith angle

Diel patterns in survey trawl catches for the Cape hakes Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus off Namibia were studied in order to examine the effect of diel bias on catchability, and its implication for survey abundance estimation and the consistency of the survey time-series. Catch rates (numbers per haul) by species and length from summer demersal biomass surveys conducted during the period 2002–2013 were used, together with a computation of the corresponding light-level data from which the solar zenith angles were obtained. Generalised additive models were fitted to assess the relationship between the catches and a number of explanatory variables. Significant covariates were zenith angle, depth and geographical position. The final models explained 78% and 59% of the variability in catch rates of M. capensis and M. paradoxus, respectively. For M. capensis, the response to zenith angle increased sharply for values above 100°, which represents the time between sunset and sunrise. For M. paradoxus there was a moderate increase in the response to zenith angle during the night. In cases where some fishing took place at night in shallow water, the survey results for M. capensis were more greatly affected than was the case for M. paradoxus, which is related to the different depth preference of the two species. Fishing in depths shallower than 400?m outside daylight hours should therefore be avoided in order to reduce bias and ensure consistency in abundance estimates from surveys.     

Estimating stellar atmospheric parameters based on Lasso features

With the rapid development of large scale sky surveys like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey （SDSS）, GAIA and LAMOST （Guoshoujing telescope）, stellar spectra can be obtained on an ever-increasing scale. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate stel- lar atmospheric parameters such as Teff, log g and [Fe/H] automatically to achieve the scientific goals and make full use of the potential value of these observations. Feature selection plays a key role in the automatic measurement of atmospheric parameters. We propose to use the least absolute shrinkage selection operator （Lasso） algorithm to select features from stellar spectra. Feature selection can reduce redundancy in spectra, alleviate the influence of noise, improve calculation speed and enhance the robustness of the estimation system. Based on the extracted features, stellar atmospheric param- eters are estimated by the support vector regression model. Three typical schemes are evaluated on spectral data from both the ELODIE library and SDSS. Experimental results show the potential performance to a certain degree. In addition, results show that our method is stable when applied to different spectra.     

基于底拖网调查数据的渔业资源质量状况评价体系构建——以北部湾为例

【目的】构建渔业资源质量状况评价体系,评估渔业管理成效,服务海洋渔业可持续发展。【方法】以北部湾底拖网调查数据为基础,结合渔业统计数据,构建渔业资源质量状况评价指标体系。该体系分3个层次,下设7项指标。通过专家经验法和平均赋值法对指标进行赋值,得到各指标权重,建立质量状况评价等级指数,并利用该等级指数对北部湾渔业资源进行评价。【结果与结论】1992―2017年北部湾渔业资源评价指标中有6项呈下降趋势;质量状况评价等级指数波动在0.44~0.56之间。自20世纪90年代以来,北部湾渔业资源一直处于临界状态。该评价结果与北部湾渔业资源利用的实际状况基本相符,证明该方法具有合理性和可操作性,可为其他海区渔业资源质量状况评价提供借鉴。     

河南省专业村销售市场的时空变化——以50个专业村为例北大核心CSCDCSSCI

专业村是农区经济发展的重要形式,销售市场作为影响专业村发展的关键因素,其时空变化是一个值得探究的问题。文章以河南省50个专业村2008年和2017年两次追踪调查数据为基础,运用标准差椭圆、社会网络分析和地理探测器等方法,梳理了河南省50个专业村销售市场的时空变化特征。研究结果表明:①专业村销售市场在时空分布上具有差异性、扩张性、波动性和扁平化的分异特征。其中心迁移变动方向不一,空间分布范围不断扩张,市场波动性比较明显,呈现出扁平化的发展趋势。②在网络结构上表现为“省内紧缩、省外拓展”的演化格局。国内一线城市的个体中心性在增强,省内部分城市的个体中心性在减弱。③在市场开拓上呈显著扩张态势,但受产品特性和交通条件等限制,不同类型专业村销售市场的扩散特征存在一定差异。从扩散距离来看,服务业型最远,农业型最近;从扩散增量大小来看,服务业型最大,工业型较小;从扩散速率快慢来看,农业型最快,工业型偏慢。④测算结果表明,不同因素对专业村销售市场扩散距离的解释力存在显著差异。整体来看,资源禀赋优势有所减弱,交通条件、产业水平和销售方式等影响明显增强。专业村销售市场的变化机制较为复杂,必要的村庄基础与产业组织为专业村产品的生产销售提供了空间载体与经济载体,销售市场则通过反馈机制,不断规范生产,促进产业升级。     

Narrowing down the number of species requiring detailed study as candidates for the EU Common Fisheries Policy discard ban

By 2019, the Common Fisheries Policy will prohibit discarding in all European fisheries of any pelagic, demersal or shellfish species for which removals are managed by TACs and quotas or minimum sizes. However, the regulation allows for exemptions from the prohibition for species for which scientific evidence demonstrates high survival rates associated with discarding. Producing reliable evidence of high survival typically requires long and costly studies involving tagging or captivity. This paper proposes to use the capacity to resist air exposure, a key stressor for discarded animals, as a proxy for survival that can be used to prioritize candidate species for more in-depth discard survival studies. The time required to induce mortality (TM) in air-exposed fish was estimated for ten discarded species under commercial fishing conditions for two artisanal French otter trawlers in the Bay of Biscay and in the English Channel. European seabass, plaice, sole and skates had extended TM values on average, suggesting that these species are good candidates. The three species observed in both regions (plaice, sole and skates) had larger TM values in the English Channel experiment compared to the Bay of Biscay experiment. Among the four measured external conditions that could influence TM (air temperature, fish length, tow depth and tow duration), the air temperature was the most important and the factor that most distinguished the two experiments.     

Geostatistical modelling of the spatial life history of post-larval deepwater hake Merluccius paradoxus in the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem

Optimal and sustainable management of fish resources cannot be ensured without a thorough understanding of the migration patterns and population (demographic stock) structure. Recent studies suggest that these aspects of the economically and ecologically important deepwater hake Merluccius paradoxus are not reflected in the current assessment and management practices for the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem. In this study, we compiled data from multiple demersal trawl surveys from the entire distribution area and applied state-of-the-art geostatistical population modelling (GeoPop) to estimate growth rate, mortality, and spatial and temporal distribution patterns of M. paradoxus. The data and the model enabled us to follow temporal and spatial changes in the distribution and infer movements from the recruitment/nursery areas, through the juvenile phase and the adults’ migration to the spawning areas outside/upstream of the nursery areas. The results indicated one primary recruitment/nursery area on the west coast of South Africa and a secondary less-productive recruitment/nursery area on the south coast near Port Elizabeth. Juveniles initially migrated away from the main recruitment area, followed by natal homing by larger individuals. This pattern was highly consistent through the time-series of the study. This perception of a, primarily, panmictic population that performs transboundary migrations between Namibia and South Africa corresponds largely to the hypothesis and data plots given in recent studies. We recommend that fisheries assessment, advice and management take into consideration these aspects of the distribution and population (stock) structure of M. paradoxus.