Consumer willingness to pay for organic and locally grown produce on Dominica: insights into the potential for an “Organic Island”

With the intent of improving agricultural revenues and solidifying her place as an ecotourism destination, it has been proposed that the island nation of The Commonwealth of Dominica convert all agriculture to organic production. This study explores Dominica’s current and potential domestic demand for organic and/or “locally grown” produce. Surveys were conducted with Dominican consumers to assess their opinions and willingness to pay for these products, and evaluated using a maximum likelihood estimation procedure. On average, Dominican consumers are willing to pay 17.5 % more for organic, and 12 % more for locally grown, produce. These results were varied significantly across demographic segments of the sampled population, respondent tastes and preferences, the health status of their family, and the extent to which they were early adopters of new products. Despite several expected challenges of a successful transition to organic, implementation of this policy may offer a net positive welfare increase for Dominica’s permanent residents. Results from this analysis suggest that, from the perspective of domestic consumers, Dominica should continue to pursue the possibility of becoming an “Organic Island.”     

Morphometric and meristic comparison of orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus: Trachichthyidae) from the Puysegur Bank and Lord Howe Rise,New Zealand,and its implications for stock structure

Significant morphological differences were found between orange roughy, Hoplostethus atlanticus, caught in 1993 on the Puysegur Bank and those caught on the Lord Howe Rise, New Zealand. A total of 17 separate body measurements and counts were taken from each fish. Treating the sexes separately, significant differences were found between sites when linear relations between eight particular body measures and standard length were compared. The eight measures indicating differences in shape were head length, snout length, orbit diameter, maxilla width, premaxilla length, caudal peduncle, gill raker count, and anal fin count. Discriminant functions were used to compare sites and sexes, and these permitted a >90% success rate in distinguishing fish from the two sites. A discriminant function could not be found which successfully separated two separate tows made on the Puysegur Bank, indicating that phenotypic differences do not vary as much within a site as they do between sites. All analyses made suggested that fish from the two different areas had different body shapes. Morphological differences, such as those found in the current investigation, could only arise if the fish populations from the two areas were relatively discrete. There may be some movement of fish between areas, quite possibly enough to bring about relative genetic homogeneity, but clearly there is insufficient to prevent the two populations from differing phenotypically. These differences suggest that morphometric analysis may be a useful tool for distinguishing New Zealand orange roughy stocks.     

Statistical evidence on the effectiveness of sewering to protect groundwater from VOC contamination

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are an important source of contamination of groundwater supplies in Massachusetts and many parts of the United States. One local response is to require sewering in wellhead protection areas as an easily enforceable policy designed to reduce the probability of VOC contamination of groundwater. Data were collected for 238 wellhead protection areas in Massachusetts on VOC contamination levels and the sewered and unsewered land uses in those aquifer recharge areas. Logistic regression procedures were used to see whether sewering had any statistical effect on likelihood of contamination of well water. The results provided limited, but not overpowering, support for the idea that requiring commercial and industrial land uses to use sewers would reduce the chance of VOC contamination.     

Long term changes in polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxin concentrations in wood treated with technical pentachlorophenol

Wood samples treated with technical pentachlorophenol (PCP), technical sodium pentachlorophenoxide (NaPCP) and octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin have been exposed outdoors for periods up to $\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}$ years. Analysis of extracts from the samples show that photolytic reductive dechlorination of highly chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins to less chlorinated isomers occurs. However there is no discernible increase in polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxin concentrations in the technical PCP treated wood presumably because further photolytic reactions and volatilisation compete effectively with the photolytic formation. There is no evidence for formation of octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (OCDD) in technical PCP treated wood in this study, probably because photolytic destruction and volatilisation compete effectively with formation reactions when the initial OCDD concentration is relatively high.