The Brown Trout Population at Loch Fleet Eight Years After Liming

Abstract

At the start of the Loch Fleet Project in 1984, the Loch and the upper 7 km of its efferent stream were found to be devoid of trout (Salmo trutta) as a result of acidification. Following the liming treatments applied to the catchment, from 1986 the formerly toxic water quality conditions (pH ～ 4.5, calcium ～ 1 mgl^?1, elevated aluminium and heavy metal levels) were eliminated, and trout were reintroduced on two occasions, in 1987 and 1988. A total of 520 fish were stocked, at a combined density equivalent to 5.5 kg ha^?1. Surveys of the loch and stream populations were carried out annually until 1993 to monitor their development, using a range of techniques, including electrofishing, gill-netting, seine-netting, spawner trapping and mark-release recapture methods. Length and scale- analysis were used to investigate fish growth.

The trout population in Loch Fleet expanded rapidly as a result of natural spawning in the loch's main feeder stream, augmented by the use of an artificial spawning bed which was constructed at the loch outlet in 1990. in mid-1983 the stock density, estimated by mark-recapture census methods, had increased to 24.9 kg ha^?1. Poor recruitment in the years 1991–93, however, reduced the rate of expansion and resulted in a population comprising mainly older individuals. the poor recruitment in these years was not fully explained but was not caused by water quality and was most likely a result of fry washout by spring spates.

Fish growth rates were high initially and were estimated on the basis of the Elliott trout growth model to be optimal for the prevailing water temperature regime of the loch. By 1991, growth rates had fallen, probably as a result of competition for food, but showed signs of recovery towards the end of the study period in 1993, following the period of lower population densities of young fish.

Trout rapidly repopulated the loch's outlet stream after 1987 but have remained sparse and have shown no signs of spawning within most of the stream. Water analyses have shown that the liming of the Loch Fleet catchment has minimal impact on downstream waters when flows are high, so that potentially toxic acid episodes have not been prevented.     

Quantitative Pollution Spill Risk Assessment: Using A Gis-Based System

Federal and State agencies have recently advocated risk-based analysis as a mechanism for advancing regulatory reform and safety determination in marine systems. the present investigation promotes this objective through the development of risk-based environmental planning strategies for oil spill contingency plans. This alternative approach to contingency planning departs from conventional methodology by employing quantitative risk assessment methods to identify hazardous oil spill zones and sensitive environmental areas, R_o and R_e respectively. the product of this conversion is referenced on a single “Risk” layer within a Geographic Information System (GIS) framework allowing coastal managers to evaluate natural resource data with associated elements of oil spill risk. As a new tool for coastal pollution management, risk-based environmental planning strategies have shown potential for evolving more efficient oil spill contingency plans.     

Response of a Fuzzy INdex of Ecosystem integrity (FINE) to water and sedimentary chemical data in two northern Adriatic lagoons

The European WFD (2000/60/EC) requires the assessment of the ecological quality status of water bodies, and gives great importance to the biological components of the ecosystem. A multimetric, fuzzy-based index for the evaluation of environmental quality (FINE: Fuzzy INdex of Ecosystem integrity) has been developed. The FINE index was calculated at 7 sites in the Sacca di Goro and the Valli di Comacchio (Adriatic Sea), where water and sedimentary chemical data were available for the years 2004 and 2005. A significant positive correlation was found between FINE values and dissolved oxygen, while significant negative correlations were observed between FINE values and transparency, nitrogen and phosphorous in the water column, and heavy metals and PCB in the sediments.     

Use of biomarkers in zooplankton for assessment of the ‘health status’ of marine and brackish environments: a short overview

The biomarker approach has been used for 25 years to study the environmental quality of marine, brackish and freshwater ecosystems. Biomarkers may indicate health status and can be applied to organisms of all zoological phyla by destructive or non destructive methods. For 5 years we have been using this approach in zooplankton to detect ecotoxicological alterations at low levels of the food chain due to contaminants. Here we review our approach to validate and apply biomarker techniques in zooplankton. We discuss advantages, limitations, some results and future research. We indicate that biomarkers in zooplankton can be used as new indices of trophic status and ecological integrity of Italian marine coastal and lagoon environments, to be included among the tools specified by Italian law D.Lgs. 152/2006.     

治理修复型水生态补偿问题分析

流域生态补偿已成为水文水资源领域的一个热门研究课题,也是解决水资源开发利用过程中区域用水矛盾、生态破坏的一种有效途径。从流域生态破坏的不同层面和根源出发,结合流域整体协调发展的管理策略和行动计划,给出流域治理修复型水生态补偿的实施目标。从双方自由博弈纳什均衡的层面出发,进行实施流域水生态补偿的经济最优条件分析;结合生态补偿产生的经济学原理,给出影响流域水生态补偿实施的相关性分析。针对流域生态治理中遇到的实际问题,阐述影响流域治理修复型水生态补偿的实施细节。     

Environmental education,community mobilization and sustainable development in Hong Kong: a comparative perspective

SUMMARY

This paper focuses on efforts to promote environmental education and community mobilization around environmental issues in Hong Kong. It is primarily concerned with efforts directed at the broader community (i.e. the population as a whole) rather than with environmental education through formal school and college curricula. The paper draws on a recently completed study commissioned by the Environmental Campaign Committee, the principal source of financial support for such efforts undertaken by environmental NGOs, community groups and educational institutions in Hong Kong. The study examined how and to what effect the Committee had used its financial resources between 1994–1999. It also examined international experience with a view to recommending changes in the overall approach to environmental education and community mobilization initiatives and their funding in Hong Kong.

The paper suggests that the existing approach to community-wide environmental education and its funding in Hong Kong have suffered from various weaknesses, most notably the absence of an integrated and goal-oriented strategy, an over-reliance on a ‘top-down’ campaign-based approach, a failure to establish explicit linkages with the concept of sustainable development and to ground initiatives at the local neighbourhood and community levels, and a preoccupation with the financial inputs provided to support this work at the expense of effective monitoring and auditing of project outputs and benefits.     

Incorporating health outcomes into environmental justice research: The case of children's asthma and air pollution in Phoenix,Arizona

Asthma is a health condition that is also an environmental justice issue. Using an environmental justice frame, this paper explores socio-demographic, indoor hazard, and air quality factors that contribute to disparities in asthma hospitalizations. Multivariate Poisson regression models predicting asthma hospitalizations at the zip code level are employed to examine the case of metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona (AZ). Controlling for socio-demographics, indoor hazards, and toxic releases from industry, ozone was the strongest predictor of asthma hospitalizations. This paper contributes to the project of inserting health measures into quantitative environmental justice studies.     

地下水六价铬运移的仿真及场地修复限值探讨

根据渗流理论,考虑地下水中水头变化的影响,利用COMSOL软件,对六价铬在地下水中的运移进行数值模拟,得到地下水压力水头和六价铬在地下水中的迁移变化规律,为六价铬对地下水的污染研究和预测提供重要的分析数据。并借此计算得出场地地下水的修复指导限值为3.17 mg/kg。     

Environmental federalism and environmental liability

Environmental federalism considers what level of government should optimally regulate pollution. This paper addresses this question for accidental pollution, which government regulates through the ex post liability regimes of either negligence or strict liability. We find that decentralizing the choice between these regimes does not, in general, induce the socially optimal outcome. When firms can pay all damages, all regions may choose negligence and impose an overly strict standard of due care. When firms may be bankrupted by damages, all regions may choose strict liability, which induces too little care. In addition, asymmetric equilibria are possible in which some regions choose negligence, others strict liability. Combining negligence with a Pigovian tax, or strict liability with a bonding requirement can align regional authorities' incentives with those of a central government.     

Multiple receptor ambient monitoring and firm compliance with environmental taxes under budget and target driven regulatory missions

We analyze the potential for an environmental monitoring agency under different regulatory missions to use multiple measures of ambient pollution levels to induce firm compliance via endogenously determined probabilistic firm-level inspections of polluting activities. Departing from previous analyses, we consider a framework where the regulator has multiple, rather than a single, measures of ambient pollution in a setting where many firms are subject to a self-reported emissions tax that is not perfectly enforceable. Under a budget-driven mission, we show that a regulator can fruitfully utilize the added information from multiple ambient monitoring receptors to induce improved environmental compliance through the creation of strategic interactions among firms. Additionally, our results provide new evidence on the relative efficiency of budget- vs. target-driven environmental enforcement missions.