Threats of illegal,unregulated, and unreported fishing to biodiversity and food security in the Republic of the Congo

Illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing poses a major threat to effective management of marine resources, affecting biodiversity and communities dependent on these coastal resources. Spatiotemporal patterns of industrial fisheries in developing countries are often poorly understood, and global efforts to describe spatial patterns of fishing vessel activity are currently based on automatic identification system (AIS) data. However, AIS is often not a legal requirement on fishing vessels, likely resulting in underestimates of the scale and distribution of legal and illegal fishing activity, which could have significant ramifications for targeted enforcement efforts and the management of fisheries resources. To help address this knowledge gap, we analyzed 3 years of vessel monitoring system (VMS) data in partnership with the national fisheries department in the Republic of the Congo to describe the behavior of national and distant-water industrial fleets operating in these waters. We found that the spatial footprint of the industrial fisheries fleet encompassed over one-quarter of the Exclusive Economic Zone. On average, 73% of fishing activity took place on the continental shelf (waters shallower than 200 m). Our findings highlight that VMS is not acting as a deterrent or being effectively used as a proactive management tool. As much as 33% (13% on average) of fishing effort occurred in prohibited areas set aside to protect biodiversity, including artisanal fisheries resources, and the distant-water fleet responsible for as much as 84% of this illegal activity. Given the growth in industrial and distant-water fleets across the region, as well as low levels of management and enforcement, these findings highlight that there is an urgent need for the global community to help strengthen regional and national capacity to analyze national scale data sets if efforts to combat IUU fishing are to be effective.     

First-trimester prenatal diagnosis of the nijmegen breakage syndrome and ataxia telangiectasia using an assay of radioresistant dna synthesis

Prenatal diagnosis was performed in two pregnancies at risk of the Nijmegen breakage syndrome. In one pregnancy, an affected fetus was diagnosed by demonstration of radioresistant DNA synthesis, using autoradiographic detection of incorporated tritiated thymidine in cultured chorionic villus cells. The diagnosis was confirmed in fetal skin fibroblasts. In the other case, the fetus appeared unaffected. Using the same procedure, unaffected fetuses were predicted from chorionic villus cells in two pregnancies at risk of ataxia telangiectasia, which is another genetic disorder showing the feature of radioresistant DNA synthesis. The present biochemical method for prenatal detection of Nijmegen breakage syndrome and ataxia telangiectasia can be used as a simplified alternative to the cytogenetic procedures reported earlier for ataxia telangiectasia.     

The impact of ozone on a salt marsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora)

Spartina alterniflora plants were collected from salt marshes within New Jersey, South Carolina, and Georgia USA and shipped to The Pennsylvania State University. New plants were grown from rhizomes in six open-top field chambers. Three chambers received charcoal-filtered air, and three received charcoal-filtered air plus 80 ppb ozone, 8 h/day for 65 days. Flower, leaf, and shoot number per plant were recorded weekly. Photosynthetic rates were measured in week 5, and foliar injury was assessed during week 9. Final dry weight of roots, shoots, and rhizomes were determined. While ozone-treated plants from all states expressed symptoms of ozone injury, plants from South Carolina exhibited no effect of ozone on any other measured variable. Plants from the Georgia site showed ozone-induced reductions in all measured variables except leaf dry weight. Ozone-treated plants from New Jersey showed reductions in photosynthetic rate, leaf and shoot number, and root dry weights. Only plants from New Jersey produced flowers, with ozone treatment causing delay in flowering and reduction in the number of flower spikes produced.     

Screening ecological risk assessment of persistent organic pollutants in Mediterranean sea sediments

A screening ecological risk assessment (ERA) was conducted for the first time in the Mediterranean basin in order to assess the toxicity posed to the benthic community by PCBs, DDTs and HCB in marine sediments. The characterization of the exposure was conducted by means of an extensive literature survey, generating a database with more than 2000 samples. The effects were assessed by the adoption of guidelines previously developed in the literature, because ecotoxicological information about persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the Mediterranean sediments was lacking. Existing sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) for the target pollutants were compiled and consensus values were calculated for three different categories of toxicity, namely threshold effect concentration (TEC), probable effect concentration (PEC) and extreme effect concentration (EEC). The combination of exposure and effects characterization enabled the identification of some areas of concern in the vicinity of industrial and urban locations and in the mouths of the main Mediterranean rivers. Beyond the Mediterranean continental shelf, the level of toxicity for the benthic community was generally low. The evaluation of the toxicity induced by the mixture of the target pollutants spotted the importance of DDT contamination in the Mediterranean sediments, despite the fact that main inputs to the sea have been significantly reduced during the last decades.     

Influence of volunteer and project characteristics on data quality of biological surveys

Volunteer involvement in biological surveys is becoming common in conservation and ecology, prompting questions on the quality of data collected in such surveys. In a systematic review of the peer‐reviewed literature on the quality of data collected by volunteers, we examined the characteristics of volunteers (e.g., age, prior knowledge) and projects (e.g., systematic vs. opportunistic monitoring schemes) that affect data quality with regards to standardization of sampling, accuracy and precision of data collection, spatial and temporal representation of data, and sample size. Most studies (70%, n = 71) focused on the act of data collection. The majority of assessments of volunteer characteristics (58%, n = 93) examined the effect of prior knowledge and experience on quality of the data collected, often by comparing volunteers with experts or professionals, who were usually assumed to collect higher quality data. However, when both groups’ data were compared with the same accuracy standard, professional data were more accurate in only 4 of 7 cases. The few studies that measured precision of volunteer and professional data did not conclusively show that professional data were less variable than volunteer data. To improve data quality, studies recommended changes to survey protocols, volunteer training, statistical analyses, and project structure (e.g., volunteer recruitment and retention).     

Spatio-temporal variations of biomass and abundance in bathyal non-crustacean megafauna in the Catalan Sea (North-western Mediterranean)

The spatio-temporal variations in diversity, biomass and abundance of bathyal invertebrates (excluding decapod crustaceans, which have been analysed elsewhere) from the North-western Mediterranean margin are described. The upper canyon (∼450 m), middle slope (∼650 m) and lower slope (∼1,200 m) habitats were investigated throughout the year. The first two sites are visited daily by a specialised commercial fisheries’ fleet, while the deeper site has not been impacted by fishing activities. A total of 140 species from 12 phyla were collected from the 3 study areas. Of these, the Mollusca, Echinodermata, Polychaeta and Cnidaria were the most speciose groups. The patterns of species diversity (H′) and evenness (E) were similar in time and space. The upper canyon and middle-slope sites were dominated by echinoderms and molluscs, while the lower-slope site was dominated by cnidarians and sponges. Multifactorial ANOVA showed significant spatio-temporal differences in the biomass and/or abundance only in echinoderms, molluscs, cnidarians and polychaetes. The faunal differences observed were explained by habitat type, but not by season. The role of submarine canyons and commercial fishing on shaping the diversity and biomass of bathyal Mediterranean invertebrates is discussed. Luis Dantart: Deceased March 2005     

The importance of groundwater discharge for plant species number in riparian zones

Riparian zones are hotspots of plant species richness in temperate and boreal biomes. The phenomenon is believed to be caused primarily by river-related processes, and upland influences on riparian zones have received relatively little attention. We investigated the importance of discharge of groundwater derived from uplands on riparian patterns in vascular plant species composition. We found that groundwater discharge areas in riparian zones were 36-209% more species rich than non-discharge areas, depending on spatial scale (1-50 m wide transects from annual high-water levels to summer low-water levels) and river (one free-flowing and one regulated). Higher nitrogen availability and less drought stress during low river stages are suggested as the major causes for the higher species diversity in discharge areas. Riparian zones lacking groundwater discharge lost more species following water-level regulation than did discharge areas. This indicates that groundwater discharge areas are more resistant to regulation because both individual plants and plant populations may grow larger in discharge areas. These results demonstrate that riparian zones are controlled by water and nutrient input from upland parts of catchments in ways that have been overlooked despite more than three decades of research into linkages between stream ecosystems and their valleys.