Fiji’s fisheries: their contribution to development and their future

The industrial fisheries of Fiji have had mixed fortunes. The fresh fish export industry has grown rapidly in importance so that fisheries is now the third most valuable export industry; its positive effect on the economy is mainly in the increase in the purchase of goods and services, such as air freight. The present ‘hands off’ policy by government in the fresh fish export industry should continue until the industry matures. In the longer run, ad valorem royalties should be considered as a mean of capturing resource rents. The government-owned export cannery has been in financial decline, and the maintenance of the social benefits of regional employment generated by the cannery has come at a high cost to government coffers. The future of the cannery, now leased to a private operator, is clouded by the uncertainty of the continuity of concessional access to European markets beyond the year 2000. The main task faced by government is the management of fisheries and fish stocks. The management of the inshore fisheries — vital to the needs of a large proportion of the population — needs additional resources. The capability for management of the industrial fisheries, necessary to maximise long term public benefits, would be enhanced by full cost recovery through a user pays policy. This article is based on a paper presented to the Fiji Update seminar, held at the National Centre for Development Studies, the Australian National University, Canberra, on 19 June 1998. The author wishes to thank Mr Krishna Swamy, Senior Fisheries Officer in the Fiji Fisheries Division, and Mr Grahame Southwick, Managing Director of the Fiji Fish Company Ltd, for their generous provision of information for the preparation of this paper; and Mr Joeli Veitayaki, Coordinator of the Ocean Resources Management Programme, University of the South Pacific, for helpful comments. Any errors or omissions are the author’s responsibility, however.     

Evaporation and energy balance of a wet grassland at Tadham Moor on the Somerset Levels

Wet grasslands are important both for their conservation value and for their important hydrological function. Evaporation is an important component of the water balance of a wetland. Where water is limited rainfall and/or surface (or sub‐surface) inflows are required to balance the summer evaporation and thus become a significant factor in the maintenance and environmental health of a wetland. This study presents an almost complete year of measurements of the water and energy balance of a wet grassland in the Somerset Levels in southwest England. The majority of the radiant energy at this site goes into evaporation. There is a strong seasonality of the controls on evaporation; the roughness length varies by a factor of 10 between winter and summer. The surface resistance to evaporation is low, close to zero, during the winter when the water table is at, or just below the surface. In the summer the water table drops to 80 cm below the surface; there is no sign of soil water stress on the evaporation but a clear effect of the senescence of grass during seed head production and of the subsequent harvest. There is clear evidence that water for evaporation is provided by the drainage ditches through sub‐surface flow. Standard evaporation formulae—such as the Penman‐Monteith equation with constant and standard parameters—provide a reasonable simulation of the total evaporation at this site, although they miss some of the seasonal detail. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conservation of wetlands especially as waterfowl habitat in northeast China

Wetland is a special ecological system in the earth, which can provide a good habitat for many wild animals. It is a reproduction and overwintering area for many rare waterfowls, too. The northeast region, including Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning provinces, and the east of Inner Mongolia, is a district with the maximum areas and types of wetlands in China. It is the center of the waterfowls reproduction in Northeast Asia and the necessary region moving to the south. The conservation of wetland and waterfowls habitats in northeast China plays an important role in international waterfowls habitats conservation. The northeast weterfowls’ types, number and distribution specific features are studied in three aspects in the paper, so do the rare waterfowls. Existing problems and the administration polices on waterfowls and their habitats conservation in the northeast are also discussed. It shows that the conservation of wetland waterfowls habitats in northeast China is important.     

美国导弹防御系统的空间特征及对我国安全影响分析

小布什总统上台后,美国加速推进导弹防御计划,并在相关地区迅速布建导弹防御系统。该系统的核心目标是保卫美国本土和重要海外利益的安全,其主要防范对象是欧亚大陆上具有远程打击能力的大国。美国导弹防御系统建设的空间格局显示,俄罗斯、中国是该系统的主要对手,该计划的实施严重危害大国之间的战略平衡,对中国国家安全构成威胁。     

国际矿业政策与立法的变迁

从历史和全球的视角,以矿产资源所有权、矿业活动经营主体、政府在矿业中的作用为重点,追索矿业政策及立法的历史沿革。全球矿业政策与立法经历了第二次世界大战前矿业政策与立法萌芽期,第二次世界大战后到20世纪70年代的国有化期,20世纪80—90年代的自由开放期,21世纪理性发展期等几个阶段。     

开都河流域气候变化对地表水的影响

1IntroductionWetlands, forests and oceans are the three main ecosystems with the highest ecological values in the world. According to the data of United Nations Environment Programme in 2002, the annual production value of the wetland ecosystems per hecta…     

天津市湿地环境变迁及成因分析

应用3S技术对天津湿地环境进行调查，结合地面采集的历史和现状数据，全面分析了天津湿地环境变迁的自然和人为因素。近一个世纪以来，天津湿地持续减少，天然湿地丧失殆尽，人为因素影响是天津湿地环境变迁的主要原因。城市拓展、经济开发对湿地的占用以及水环境污染是目前湿地面临的主要威胁。保护天津湿地要从搞好城市土地利用规划、调整产业结构、控制水污染、加强湿地保护区管理、尽快制定湿地保护法等方面入手。、     

基于RS和GIS的唐山沿海地区湿地结构动态监测

利用历史资料和Landsat TM卫星遥感图像,研究了唐山市沿海地区湿地结构自上世纪80年代以来的演变特征,着重对1987~2004年陡河——滦河之间的湿地结构类型进行了识别,绘制了不同时期的湿地面积解译图。利用Mapinfo制图软件计算出两个时期的面积转化矩阵,对该区主要湿地类型浅海水域、滩涂、芦苇沼泽、水稻田、养殖场、盐田等湿地的面积进行了年份比较,从而分析得出唐山市沿海湿地结构从80年代至今以来破碎化加重,应该加强湿地结构的动态监测。     

Calibration of diatoms along a nutrient gradient in Florida Everglades Water Conservation Area-2A, USA

The relationship between diatom taxa preserved in surface soils and environmental variables at 31 sites in Water Conservation Area 2A (WCA-2A) of the Florida Everglades was explored using multivariate analyses. Surface soils were collected along a phosphorus (P) gradient and analyzed for diatoms, total P, % nitrogen (N), %carbon (C), calcium (Ca), and biogenic silica (BSi). Phosphorus varied from 315-1781 g g^-1, and was not found to be correlated with the other geochemical variables. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was used to examine which environmental variables correlated most closely with the distributions in diatom taxa. Canonical correspondence analysis with forward selection, constrained and partial CCA, and Monte Carlo permutation tests of significance show the most significant changes in diatom assemblages along the P gradient (p < 0.01), with additional species differences correlated with soil C, N, Ca, and BSi.Weighted-averaging (WA) regression and calibration models of diatom assemblages to P and BSi were developed. The diatom-based inference model for soil [P] had a high apparent r² (0.86) with RMSE_boot = 218 g g^-1. Indicator diatom species identified by assessing species WA optima and WA tolerance to [P], such as Nitzschia amphibia and N. palea for high [P] (~1300-1400 g^-1) and Achnanthes minutissima var. scotica and Mastogloia smithii for low [P] (~400-600 g g^-1), may be useful as monitoring tools for eutrophication in WCA-2A as well as other areas of the Everglades. Diatom assemblages analyzed by cluster analysis were related to location within WCA-2A, and dominant taxa within clusters are discussed in relation to the geochemical variables measured as well as hydrology and pH. Diversity of diatom assemblages and a Disturbance Index based on diatom data are discussed in relation to the historically P-limited Everglades ecosystem. Diatom assemblages should be very useful for reconstructions of [P] through time in the Florida Everglades, provided diatoms are well preserved in soil cores.