Management of inland capture fisheries and challenges in fish production in Nigeria

The paper critically examines the trend in fish production in Nigeria. The problem of excessive mismanagement and lack of attention by relevant agencies are still common place in inland water bodies. The paper discusses these mismanagement practices which are non compliance with the existing rules and regulations on good fishing methods, uncontrollable, unorthodox and obnoxious fishing practices, destruction of the natural breeding grounds and the collapse of the fishery due to massive over fishing. The challenges posed by the fishing methods as well as the effect of different gears and mechanization of fishing crafts on fish production are discussed. The paper recommends ways to increase domestic fish production in inland water bodies, which include a well planned strategy of restocking the existing reservoirs after careful scientific study, enforcement of the existing laws and regulation based on community participation. Training of stakeholders on the code of practice for responsible fisheries (CPRF), extension of subsidies to fisher folks, the traditional practices, which encourage the adherence to close season and other fish conservation and utilization strategies, are also advocate

Sustainable Urban Habitats: The Contributory Components of Viable Eco-Diverse Landscapes

This study examines the conceptual, ecological and structural elements that contribute to the development of sustainable urban habitats. It is argued that the establishment of genuinely sustainable urban environments has been hampered by the lack of a clear and agreed definition of sustainable practices amongst building professions. Whilst this militates against the synthesis of sustainable architectural and landscaping design methodologies, it also highlights the piecemeal adoption of sustainable design pedagogy within university design departments. With a few exceptions the embedding of sustainable design principles within design departments has been pedestrian. As a consequence this has contributed to the maintenance of fuzzy ideology and practices regarding sustainability within built environment professions. One of the more obvious manifestations of this phenomenon is the absence of creativity when amalgamating relevant native species, ecological diversity and landscaping materials within UK city centers. This can be traced directly to inconsistent pedagogical approaches when addressing ecological applications within the built environment. The paper reviews the threads that connect genuine aspirations for sustainable habitats within built environment professions and university design departments to their inevitable erratic outcomes. The fundamental association of the concepts of place and ownership and the creative application of pertinent eco-diversification are intrinsic to genuine sustainable cityscapes. This matter will not be resolved by tweaking the relevant frameworks and organizations. The ‘play it safe’ orthodoxies of existing professional anatomies and educational structures are not an option, what is needed is the fundamental re-design of the existing modes of practice. The paper will discuss how this is possible, cite institutional and commercial innovation, good practice and outline the potential for genuine sustainable urban habitats

Determinants of environmental management in the red sea hotels: Personal and organizational values and contextual variables

What motivates firms to adopt environmental management practices is one of the most significant aspects in the contemporary academic debate in which the review of the existing literature yields, with an obvious contextual bias toward developed world, contested theories and inconclusive findings. Providing a unique model that brings together the individual and organizational levels of analysis on firms' adoption of environmental management practices, this study aims to provide a new insight from the context of developing world. Data from 158 Red Sea hotels reveal two identifiable dimensions of environmental management-planning and organization, and operations-that can be explained as originating from different values. Whereas organizational altruism is a powerful predictor of both dimensions, managers' personal values and organizational competitive orientation are only relevant to environmental operations. The evidence also indicates that contextual variables such as chain affiliation, hotel star rating, and size are important to explain hotels' environmental management behaviors. © 2012 ICHRIE

Demographic Transformation and the Future of Museums

In 2009 the Center for the Future of Museums commissioned Betty Farrell to produce a report to explore in more detail the demographic trends in American society and their implications for museums. The report identifies, synthesizes, and interprets existing research on demographics, cultural consumer attitudes, museum diversity practices, and related topics. It is meant to help the museum field explore the future of museums in a "majority minority" society. Topics of inquiry include national demographic projections for the next 25 years with a focus on the shifting racial and ethnic composition of the United States; current patterns of museum attendance (and cultural participation more generally) by race, ethnicity, cultural origin and other relevant factors; culturally/ethnically specific attitudes towards museums, including perceptual and behavioral barriers to museum attendance; ways that museums currently reach out to diverse audiences; specific models and best practices; and larger trends in societal attitudes towards racial and other classifications

Health and safety in an organisation

Health and Safety of employees are of utmost importance for the performance of both the employees and the organisation. The main aim of this research project is to study the health and safety issues existing within an organisation. Qualitative observation methodology was adopted for gathering relevant and appropriate information. Under this method, self-knowledge was implemented and observation of the workplace conducted to identify different issues that can influence the health and safety of workers and the consumers which the organisation serves. Failure to wear personal protective equipment like gloves, shoes, cap, eyeglasses; failure to follow hygiene practices, for instance, leaving the sauce bottle open, are observed to be different issues. Based on these results, it is recommended that the organisation develops a sound health and safety policy, provides proper training to the staff, implements health-related work policies, monitors the practices adopted by the employees, and provides personal protective equipment to employees

Potential of multi-species livestock farming to improve the sustainability of livestock farms: A review.

Diversified farming systems are proposed as a major mechanism to address the many sustainability issues of today's agriculture. Multi-species livestock farming, i.e. keeping two or more animal species simultaneously on the same farm, is an option that has received little attention to date. Moreover, most studies of multi-species livestock farming are limited, usually focusing on selected dimensions of farm sustainability and addressing lower organizational levels (i.e. within the farm) and rather limited time horizons (e.g. a few weeks in a grazing season). Thus, a comprehensive assessment of multi-species livestock farming in terms of farm sustainability is lacking. In this context, we outline and discuss potential benefits and limitations of multi-species livestock farming for livestock farm sustainability from existing literature and list issues on multi-species livestock farming requiring further research. We show that multi-species livestock farming has the potential to improve the three dimensions of sustainability reviewed - economic viability for farmers, environmental soundness and social acceptability by being respectful of animals and humans - as long as locally relevant farming practices are implemented, especially an appropriate stocking rate during grazing. If relevant practices are not observed, multi-species livestock farming may produce undesirable effects, such as competition for resource acquisition during grazing, parasitic cross-infection and more intense work peaks. Therefore, we identify four focal research areas for multi-species livestock farming. First, characterizing the management of multi-species livestock farms. To do this, we suggest considering the integration of production enterprises (e.g. cattle and sheep enterprises) within the farm from three perspectives: farming practices (e.g. grazing management), work organization and sales. Second, exploring the complementarity of livestock species on multi-species livestock farms. This is especially true for species combinations that have been largely ignored (e.g. ruminants and monogastrics), even though they may have potential due to complementary diet compositions and resource-acquisition strategies. Third, assessing the sustainability of multi-species livestock farm scenarios (current or alternative) according to the management practices and production conditions, which requires adapting existing methods/models or developing new ones. Fourth, characterizing conditions for success and obstacles for multi-species livestock farming along the value chain from production to consumption, considering stakeholders' objectives, work habits and constraints. Increasing understanding should help prioritize actions and organize them to scale up multi-species livestock farming