Using ecological indicators in the context of an ecosystem approach to fisheries for data-limited fisheries

The tenets of ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) now occupy centre stage in our efforts to maintain the sustainability of fisheries and rebuild marine ecosystems. The paper discusses how an EAF can be adopted for data limited fisheries and uses the northern South China Sea fishery as an example to demonstrate the selection and use of indicators for determining the states of the fishery and its relevant ecosystem to provide advice on management. Implementing EAF management requires indicators and models that address the impact of fishing across entire ecological communities and determine management actions to be taken to achieve the preset objectives according to decision rules. Data limited fisheries necessarily have limited resources for data collection and scientific studies and therefore could not support complex models. To overcome the data limitation and absence of modelling support, simple indicators have to be used to assess the current state and monitor changes of the fishery and its ecosystem. Such indicators should: (1) be observable and understandable by all stakeholders, (2) be based on easily obtainable and reliable data, (3) adequately reflect the condition of the resource, and (4) have associated reference values and responsive management measures. The paper also reviews the recent development and use of indicators and harvest strategies in both conventional and EAF management to better understand the differences and to shed light on the challenges of EAF, in particular for data limited fisheries.     

Standardizing catch and effort data of the Taiwanese distant-water longline fishery in the western and central Pacific Ocean for bigeye tuna, Thunnus obesus

Catch per unit effort (CPUE) is often used as an index of relative abundance in fisheries stock assessments. However, the trends in nominal CPUE can be influenced by many factors in addition to stock abundance, including the choice of fishing location and target species, and environmental conditions. Consequently, catch and effort data are usually ‘standardized’ to remove the impact of such factors. Standardized CPUE for bigeye tuna, Thunnus obesus, caught by the Taiwanese distant-water longline fishery in the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) for 1964–2004 were derived using three alternative approaches (GLM, GAM and the delta approach), and sensitivity was explored to whether catch-rates of yellowfin tuna and albacore tuna are included in the analyses. Year, latitude, and the catch-rate of yellowfin explained the most of the deviance (32–49%, depending on model configuration) and were identified consistently among methods, while trends in standardized catch-rate differed spatially. However, the trends in standardized catch-rates by area were found to be relatively insensitive to the approach used for standardization, including whether the catch-rates of yellowfin and albacore were included in the analyses.     

Overcoming the constraints of low sample sizes to produce age and growth data for rare or threatened sharks

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Eight urgent,fundamental and simultaneous steps needed to restore ocean health,and the consequences for humanity and the planet of inaction or delay

1. The ocean crisis is urgent and central to human wellbeing and life on Earth; past and current activities are damaging the planet's main life support system for future generations. We are witnessing an increase in ocean heat, disturbance, acidification, bio‐invasions and nutrients, and reducing oxygen levels. Several of these act like ratchets: once detrimental or negative changes have occurred, they may lock in place and may not be reversible, especially at gross ecological and ocean process scales.
2. Each change may represent a loss to humanity of resources, ecosystem function, oxygen production and species. The longer we pursue unsuitable actions, the more we close the path to recovery and better ocean health and greater benefits for humanity in the future.
3. We stand at a critical juncture and have identified eight priority issues that need to be addressed in unison to help avert a potential ecological disaster in the global ocean. They form a purposely ambitious agenda for global governance and are aimed at informing decision‐makers at a high level. They should also be of interest to the general public.
4. Of all the themes, the highest priority is to rigorously address global warming and limit surface temperature rise to 1.5°C by 2100, as warming is the pre‐eminent factor driving change in the ocean. The other themes are establishing a robust and comprehensive High Seas Treaty, enforcing existing standards for Marine Protected Areas and expanding their coverage, especially in terms of high levels of protection, adopting a precautionary pause on deep‐sea mining, ending overfishing and destructive fishing practices, radically reducing marine pollution, putting in place a financing mechanism for ocean management and protection, and lastly, scaling up science/data gathering and facilitating data sharing.
5. By implementing all eight measures in unison, as a coordinated strategy, we can build resilience to climate change, help sustain fisheries productivity, particularly for low‐income countries dependent on fisheries, protect coasts (e.g. via soft‐engineering/habitat‐based approaches), promote mitigation (e.g. carbon storage) and enable improved adaptation to rapid global change.

     

The HELCOM system of a vision,strategic goals and ecological objectives: implementing an ecosystem approach to the management of human activities in the Baltic Sea

• 1. Since signing the Helsinki Convention in 1974, the countries with coasts around the Baltic Sea have striven jointly within the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) towards the ecological restoration of the Baltic Sea. The European Community signed the revised Convention in 1992.
• 2. Work under HELCOM includes implementing joint recommendations to curb pollution originating from land and marine sources, ensuring safer maritime traffic, and protecting biodiversity, for example, by setting up a network of Baltic Sea protected areas.
• 3. A new concept — the ecosystem approach to the management of human activities — was adopted by the Contracting Parties of HELCOM in 2003 to serve as the new framework for further efforts towards attaining good ecological status of the Baltic Sea.
• 4. Stepwise progress towards the development of quantitative definitions of good ecological status has been made since 2003 to implement the new approach: a common vision reflecting the ecosystem approach was adopted in 2004 and a number of more targeted goals and objectives were agreed in 2006.
• 5. The Contracting Parties to the Helsinki Convention will use the objectives adopted covering eutrophication, impacts of hazardous substances, and the overall status of biodiversity, including the impact of fisheries and shipping, to draft a new set of joint management actions.
• 6. In the future, an agreement under development among the Contracting Parties on indicators with quantitative targets will enable a quantitative assessment of ‘good ecological status’ and progress towards the goals of HELCOM, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as well European legislation concerning marine environmental protection.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using historical fisheries data to predict tuna distribution within the British Indian Ocean Territory Marine Protected Area,and implications for its management

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Osmoregulation in the mudskipper,Boleophthalmus boddaerti I. Responses of branchial cation activated and anion stimulated adenosine triphosphatases to changes in salinity

The mudskipperB. boddaerti, was able to survive in waters of intermediate salinities (4–27). Fish submerged in dechlorinated tap water suffered 60% mortality by the fifth day while 60% of those in 100% sea-water (sw) died after the third day of exposure. After being submerged in 50% or 80% sw for 7 days, the plasma osmolality, plasma Na⁺ and Cl^– concentrations and the branchial Na⁺ and K⁺ activated adenosine triphosphatase (Na⁺,K⁺-ATPase) activity were significantly higher than those of fish submerged in 10% sw for the same period. However, the activities of the branchial HCO₃ ^– and Cl^– stimulated adenosine triphosphatase (HCO₃ ^–,Cl^–-ATPase) and carbonic anhydrase of the latter fish were significantly greater than those of the former. Such correlation suggests that Na⁺,K⁺-ATPase is important for hyperosmotic adaptation in this fish while HCO₃ ^–-Cl^–-ATPase and carbonic anhydrase may be involved in hypoosmotic survival.     

Putative apolipoprotein A‐I,natural killer cell enhancement factor and lysozyme g are involved in the early immune response of brown‐marbled grouper,Epinephelus fuscoguttatus,Forskal, to Vibrio alginolyticus

The gram‐negative bacterium, Vibrio alginolyticus, has frequently been identified as the pathogen responsible for the infectious disease called vibriosis. This disease is one of the major challenges facing brown‐marbled grouper aquaculture, causing fish farmers globally to suffer substantial economic losses. The objective of this study was to investigate the proteins involved in the immune response of brown‐marbled grouper fingerlings during their initial encounter with pathogenic organisms. To achieve this objective, a challenge experiment was performed, in which healthy brown‐marbled grouper fingerlings were divided into two groups. Fish in the treated group were subjected to intraperitoneal injection with an infectious dose of V. alginolyticus suspended in phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS), and those in the control group were injected with an equal volume of PBS. Blood samples were collected from a replicate number of fish from both groups at 4 h post‐challenge and analysed for immune response‐related serum proteins via two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis. The results showed that 14 protein spots were altered between the treated and control groups; these protein spots were further analysed to determine the identity of each protein via MALDI‐TOF/TOF. Among the altered proteins, three were clearly overexpressed in the treated group compared with the control; these were identified as putative apolipoprotein A‐I, natural killer cell enhancement factor and lysozyme g. Based on these results, these three highly expressed proteins participate in immune response‐related reactions during the initial exposure (4 h) of brown‐marbled grouper fingerling to V. alginolyticus infection.     

Evaluation of the immune response in rainbow trout fry,Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), after waterborne exposure to Flavobacterium psychrophilum and/or hydrogen peroxide

The immune response in rainbow trout fry against Flavobacterium psychrophilum was elucidated using an immersion‐based challenge with or without prior exposure to hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Samples were taken from the head kidney 4, 48, 125 and 192 h after immersion, and the regulation of several genes was examined. Bacterial load was assessed based on the presence of 16S rRNA and correlated with gene expression, and the levels of specific antibodies in the blood were measured 50 days post‐infection. Separately, both H₂O₂ and F. psychrophilum influenced gene expression, and pre‐treatment with H₂O₂ influenced the response to infection with F. psychrophilum. Pre‐treatment with H₂O₂ also affected correlation between gene regulation and pathogen load for several genes. A delay in antibody production in H₂O₂‐treated fish in the early phase of infection was indicated, but H₂O₂ exposure did not affect antibody levels 50 days post‐infection. An increasing amount of F. psychrophilum 16S rRNA was found in the head kidneys of infected fish pre‐treated with H₂O₂ relative to the F. psychrophilum group. The results show that a single pre‐treatment with H₂O₂ impairs the response against F. psychrophilum and may intensify infection.     

Nutritional assessment of Australian canola meals. I. Evaluation of canola oil extraction method and meal processing conditions on the digestible value of canola meals fed to the red seabream (Pagrus auratus, Paulin)

This study assessed the nutrient and energy digestibility of a variety of canola protein products that were produced by processing canola meal under different conditions, using the red seabream, Pagrus auratus. The test canola protein products included solvent‐extracted canola meal, expeller‐extracted canola meal alone or subjected to one of two different heat treatments (120 or 150°C for 30 min), and expeller meal further processed to produce a canola protein concentrate (CPC). Solvent‐extracted soybean meal was also included in the study as a reference ingredient. Daily feed intake and blood thyroid hormone levels over the experimental period were also examined. The total digestible protein content of the expeller‐ and solvent‐extracted canola meals was 356 and 358 g per kg dry matter (g kg DM^?1) respectively. The total digestible energy content of the expeller‐ and solvent‐extracted canola meals was 14.23 and 8.60 MJ kg^?1 respectively. The organic matter digestibilities of the solvent‐extracted canola meal were poorer than noted for the expeller‐ and solvent‐extracted soybean meal. Notably, the two sources of canola meals used in this study (solvent and expeller meals) did not cause problems with declining feed intakes or changes to blood levels of thyroid hormones when included in the diets of the fish at a 30% level, and the diets were fed over a 3‐week period. The preparation of a CPC resulted in gains in total digestible energy, but a reduction in the amount of total digestible protein, relative to the expeller canola meal from which it was produced. However, the protein concentrating process marginally reduced the relative digestible value of the protein content. Heating expeller meal at 120 or 150°C for 30 min resulted in progressive reductions of all nutrient and energy digestibilities.