The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Balanced harvest in the real world. Scientific, policy and operational issues in an ecosystem approach to fisheries

The concept of the Ecosystem Approach has entered the fishery harvesting discussions both from fishery perspectives (Reykjavik Declaration; FAO 2003 Annex to the Code of Conduct and from the principles of the Ecosystem Approach adopted by the CBD in 1995. Both perspectives establish the need to maintain ecosystem structure and functioning, whether for sustainable use of biodiversity (CBD) or simply to keep exploited ecosystems healthy and productive (fisheries). In response, the “Balanced Harvest” (BH) concept was suggested by a group of scientists brought together by the IUCN Fisheries Experts Group during the CBD CoP 10 in 2010. The meeting and the BH concept as consolidated there highlighted some of the collateral ecological effects of current fishing patterns and unbalanced removals of particular components of the food web, stimulating a critical rethinking of current approaches to fisheries management. The meeting on “Balanced Harvest in the real world - Scientific, policy and operational issues in an ecosystem approach to fisheries” (Rome, September 29-October 2, 2014) examined the progress made since 2010 on a number of fronts. It considered questions related to the scientific underpinning of the BH concept, including theory, modelling, and empirical observations. It began to explore the economic, policy and management implications of harvesting in a more balanced way

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least 4 m. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the 6.5 m James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 yr, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit