Status of sea cucumber resources and impact of fishing ban on the livelihood of fishers in Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay

The sea cucumbers constitute an important part of non-fish income source for thousands of fishers along Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay of south east coast of India. The fishery which is more than thousand years old was introduced by the Chinese stationed at Ramanathapuram, for preparing a dried sea cucumber product Beche-de-mer. The sea cucumber fishery in Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay was artisanal in nature and consisted of fishermen who were good divers, the processors who acted as middlemen and the exporters. The sea cucumbers were chiefly collected by skin diving to a depth of 1.5 to 6.0 m in the shallow seas using nonmechanised country crafts. They were also caught as by-catch in trawlers locally known as Thallu madi (an indigenous modified trawler operating on wind power in shallow waters), besides the Chanku madi and Attai madi which were operated in deeper coastal waters

Sea cucumber conservation in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar, India "An evaluation of the current conservation measures on sea cucumber stocks in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar of India"

Sea cucumber fishery and trade were one of the top non-finfish income streams for the coastal people of Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar in the South East coast of India. As there was no regulation to control the fishery, there was a concern on decline in sea cucumber populations. In order to conserve the over-exploited stocks, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change, Government of India banned the fishery and trade of sea cucumbers by including them under Wild Life Protection Act 1972 since 2001. The enforcement of a blanket ban of sea cucumber fishing over the last 14 years might have helped in reviving their populations; at the same time, the ban would possibly had a social and economic impact on scores of people, who were dependent on the sea cucumber fishery. To understand the situation, the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) project approved a short term project to Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (India). The project was intended to understand the sea cucumber stocks and implications of the ban on the livelihood of fishers in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar. The purpose of the project was also to suggest management options for conservation and sustainable use of sea cucumber resources

Present state of global wetland extent and wetland methane modelling: methodology of a model inter-comparison project (WETCHIMP)

The Wetland and Wetland CH4 Intercomparison of Models Project (WETCHIMP) was created to evaluate our present ability to simulate large-scale wetland characteristics and corresponding methane (CH4) emissions. A multi-model comparison is essential to evaluate the key uncertainties in the mechanisms and parameters leading to methane emissions. Ten modelling groups joined WETCHIMP to run eight global and two regional models with a common experimental protocol using the same climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) forcing datasets. We reported the main conclusions from the intercomparison effort in a companion paper (Melton et al., 2013). Here we provide technical details for the six experiments, which included an equilibrium, a transient, and an optimized run plus three sensitivity experiments (temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentration). The diversity of approaches used by the models is summarized through a series of conceptual figures, and is used to evaluate the wide range of wetland extent and CH4 fluxes predicted by the models in the equilibrium run. We discuss relationships among the various approaches and patterns in consistencies of these model predictions. Within this group of models, there are three broad classes of methods used to estimate wetland extent: prescribed based on wetland distribution maps, prognostic relationships between hydrological states based on satellite observations, and explicit hydrological mass balances. A larger variety of approaches was used to estimate the net CH4 fluxes from wetland systems. Even though modelling of wetland extent and CH4 emissions has progressed significantly over recent decades, large uncertainties still exist when estimating CH4 emissions: there is little consensus on model structure or complexity due to knowledge gaps, different aims of the models, and the range of temporal and spatial resolutions of the models

The performance of FLake in the Met Office Unified Model

We present results from the coupling of FLake to the Met Office Unified Model (MetUM). The coupling and initialisation are first described, and the results of testing the coupled model in local and global model configurations are presented. These show that FLake has a small statistical impact on screen temperature, but has the potential to modify the weather in the vicinity of areas of significant inland water. Examination of FLake lake ice has revealed that the behaviour of lakes in the coupled model is unrealistic in some areas of significant sub-grid orography. Tests of various modifications to ameliorate this behaviour are presented. The results indicate which of the possible model changes best improve the annual cycle of lake ice. As FLake has been developed and tuned entirely outside the Unified Model system, these results can be interpreted as a useful objective measure of the performance of the Unified Model in terms of its near-surface characteristics

REVIEW ON EVALUATING THE ROLE OF NSAIDS FOR THE TREATMENT OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

Recently, several studies have been reported that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can fight against neurodegenerative disorders by various mechanisms. Currently, available therapies of neurodegenerative disorders (NDs) provide only symptomatic relief. This is the point at which we need an alternative that acts on the root cause of disease. Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease are the two NDs concentrated here. Since the drug profile is already known, drug repurposing is a promising technique in research, thereby reducing the cost and period effectively. Epidemiological studies on various nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) showed good results, but when it came to clinical studies the results are found to be poor. Hence, it can be concluded that NSAIDs provide its neuroprotective activity on its long-term use only, as the brain accessibility of this kind of drug is poor due to its lower lipophilicity

Bioactive Molecules Against Malarial Dihydroorotate Dehydrogenase: An in silico Approach

Malaria, caused by Plasmodium falciparum, remains a major cause of mortality among children in African countries. Due to the parasite's resistance against existing malarial drugs, there is a contemporary need for the exploration of potent compounds possessing anti-malarial properties. Plasmodium falciparum dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (pfDHODH) is one of the promising targets (PDB ID: 6GJG) for treating malaria. This study aims to incorporate computational approaches to explore potent phytochemicals with reported biological activity as inhibitors of pfDHODH and to investigate the molecular-level details. The results showed that acetylmontrifoline, retusin, montrifoline, ealamine D, rhamnazin, and canaliculin stand out as potential inhibitors of the enzyme with binding affinities of -11.308 kcal/mol, -11.251 kcal/mol, -11.221 kcal/mol, -10.938 kcal/mol, -10.920 kcal/mol, and -10.827 kcal/mol, respectively, better than that of the native ligand with -9.873 kcal/mol. The adducts exhibited significant geometrical stability, with good RMSD of ligands below 5 Å from 200 ns molecular dynamics simulation, and sustained thermodynamic stability from the MMPBSA method. All other geometrical evaluators also supported the stability of the complexes. The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics predicted moderate drug-likeness, and the hit candidates could be proposed for further in vivo and in vitro experiments to validate the computational results

Constraints perceived by the field extension functionaries of Dairy Development Department, Kerala

The study was conducted in Kerala state in 2021–2022, with the objective of identifying the constraints related to effective role performance as perceived by the Field Extension Functionaries (FEFs) of the Dairy Development Department (DDD). Through non-proportionate stratified random sampling, a sample of 120 FEFs was chosen, of whom 60 were Dairy Extension Officers (DEOs) and 60 were Dairy Farm Instructors (DFIs). The study found that inadequate infrastructure facilities and lack of transport facilities were the major physical constraints perceived by the respondents. Among organisational constraints, inadequate staff strength and heavy administrative work were cited as the major constraints. The most significant technological constraints perceived were inadequate knowledge about dairy innovations among the farmers and lack of technical support for implementing schemes. Inadequate budget allocation for programme execution and lack of monitoring and evaluation of schemes were the major managerial constraints. Under communication constraints, weak research-extension-farmer linkage, and lack of feedback from farmers were perceived as the major ones

Socio-economic Impact of Sea cucumber Conservation in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar Region of Tamil Nadu

Sea cucumber is one of the important marine resources and its fishery is a source of income to coastal communities. It contributes to poverty alleviation for more than three million fishers globally. The indiscriminate exploitation for this lucrative trade would have resulted in overexploitation leading to endangering of the species in the wild. The blanket ban on collection and trade on sea cucumber in India was imposed during 2002 by listing this organism in Schedule I category of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. The present study aimed to analyze and understand the impacts of listing on the conservation of sea cucumber resources in the wild and on the livelihood of the fishers. The enforcement of ban has affected the livelihood of thousands of fishermen families involved in sea cucumber fishing. There was a loss in their regular income as they were not able to do other fishing activities due to lack of capacity for investment. The fishers opined that they want the ban to be lifted at least for a few commercially important species. They are agreeable to follow regulatory measures like size restriction on fishing of undersized sea cucumbers, exclusion of breeding stock from fishing, restraining from use of destructive gears, exclusive fishing ban period for stock replenishment, sea ranching and stock enhancement programmes for conservation of the resource through participatory co-management principles

Spatial variations in the population characteristics of sea cucumber resources in Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay, south-east coast of India

The lack of data on population abundance, biomass and basic biological parameters of most of the sea cucumber species from Indian waters is a fundamental barrier to impose suitable management measures on these resources. A study was conducted to ascertain the sea cucumber population characteristics in two geographically distinct ecosystems (Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay) along the south-east coast of India. The stock status of sea cucumber population was assessed both by trawl and dive surveys following standard methods on a random basis. Comparatively, a higher average density of total sea cucumbers was estimated in the Gulf of Mannar (3853±152.3 nos. ha-1) than in Palk Bay (2428.5±504.6 nos. ha-1). The species diversity, average length and weight of individual species were also higher in the Gulf of Mannar. The present study indicated significant variation in status and structure of sea cucumber resources in these two ecosystems. Hence the study warrants the emphasis of ecosystem-based management in formulating conservation measures of these resources in Indian waters

Present state of global wetland extent and wetland methane modelling: conclusions from a model inter-comparison project (WETCHIMP)

Global wetlands are believed to be climate sensitive, and are the largest natural emitters of methane (CH<sub>4</sub>). Increased wetland CH<sub>4</sub> emissions could act as a positive feedback to future warming. The Wetland and Wetland CH<sub>4</sub> Inter-comparison of Models Project (WETCHIMP) investigated our present ability to simulate large-scale wetland characteristics and corresponding CH<sub>4</sub> emissions. To ensure inter-comparability, we used a common experimental protocol driving all models with the same climate and carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) forcing datasets. The WETCHIMP experiments were conducted for model equilibrium states as well as transient simulations covering the last century. Sensitivity experiments investigated model response to changes in selected forcing inputs (precipitation, temperature, and atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentration). Ten models participated, covering the spectrum from simple to relatively complex, including models tailored either for regional or global simulations. The models also varied in methods to calculate wetland size and location, with some models simulating wetland area prognostically, while other models relied on remotely sensed inundation datasets, or an approach intermediate between the two. <br><br> Four major conclusions emerged from the project. First, the suite of models demonstrate extensive disagreement in their simulations of wetland areal extent and CH<sub>4</sub> emissions, in both space and time. Simple metrics of wetland area, such as the latitudinal gradient, show large variability, principally between models that use inundation dataset information and those that independently determine wetland area. Agreement between the models improves for zonally summed CH<sub>4</sub> emissions, but large variation between the models remains. For annual global CH<sub>4</sub> emissions, the models vary by ±40% of the all-model mean (190 Tg CH<sub>4</sub> yr<sup>−1</sup>). Second, all models show a strong positive response to increased atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentrations (857 ppm) in both CH<sub>4</sub> emissions and wetland area. In response to increasing global temperatures (+3.4 °C globally spatially uniform), on average, the models decreased wetland area and CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes, primarily in the tropics, but the magnitude and sign of the response varied greatly. Models were least sensitive to increased global precipitation (+3.9 % globally spatially uniform) with a consistent small positive response in CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes and wetland area. Results from the 20th century transient simulation show that interactions between climate forcings could have strong non-linear effects. Third, we presently do not have sufficient wetland methane observation datasets adequate to evaluate model fluxes at a spatial scale comparable to model grid cells (commonly 0.5°). This limitation severely restricts our ability to model global wetland CH<sub>4</sub> emissions with confidence. Our simulated wetland extents are also difficult to evaluate due to extensive disagreements between wetland mapping and remotely sensed inundation datasets. Fourth, the large range in predicted CH<sub>4</sub> emission rates leads to the conclusion that there is both substantial parameter and structural uncertainty in large-scale CH<sub>4</sub> emission models, even after uncertainties in wetland areas are accounted for