Who uses the fishery resources in South Africa’s largest impoundment? Characterising subsistence and recreational fishing sectors on Lake Gariep

The African Unionfs prioritisation of inland fisheries as an investment area for poverty alleviation and regional economic development will require the development of management plans. These should be based on sound knowledge of the social dynamics of the resource users. In South Africa the social dynamics of resource users of inland fisheries have never been assessed. The purpose of this study was to assess the human dimensions of the anglers utilising the fishery in Lake Gariep,South Africafs largest impoundment. The study was based on 357 first-time interviews conducted on the lakeshore between October 2006 and December 2007. Anglers were categorised as recreational (39%) or subsistence (61%) based on their residency, occupation, primary motivation for angling, mode of transport and gear use. Subsistence anglers were local (99%), residing within 10 km of the place where they were interviewed, while recreational anglers included both local resident and non-resident members. The racial composition of anglers was dependent on user group and differed significantly(p . 0.05) from the demographic composition of the regional population. Recreational anglers were predominantly White (. 60% of interviews) and Coloured (. 25%), while 84% of subsistence anglers were Coloured and 16% Black African. Most recreational anglers had permanent employment or were pensioners while <30% of subsistence anglers were permanently employed. Most recreational users (82%) accessed the lake with their own vehicle while subsistence anglers mainlywalked (63%) or used a bicycle (28%). Recreational interviewees either consumed (59%), sold (11%), gave away (10%) or released (20%) some of their catch. Subsistence anglers either ate their catch (53%) and/or sold (41%) their catch. Within the subsistence sector no anglers released fish after capture or gave some of the catch away. We conclude that this inland fishery contributes to the livelihood of the rural poor who use the lake on a subsistence basis and that recreational-angler based tourism may contribute to increased income and employment opportunities through related service industries

Targeted temperature management in emergency medicine: current perspectives

Benton R Hunter,1 Timothy J Ellender1,2 1Department of Emergency Medicine, 2Department of Critical Care Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA Abstract: Landmark trials in 2002 showed that therapeutic hypothermia (TH) after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest due to ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation resulted in improved likelihood of good neurologic recovery compared to standard care without TH. Since that time, TH has been frequently instituted in a wide range of cardiac arrest patients regardless of initial heart rhythm. Recent evidence has evaluated how, when, and to what degree TH should be instituted in cardiac arrest victims. We outline early evidence, as well as recent trials, regarding the use of TH or targeted temperature management in these patients. We also provide evidence-based suggestions for the institution of targeted temperature management/TH in a variety of emergency medicine settings. Keywords: therapeutic hypothermia, cardiac arrest, heart arres

Short CommunicationValidation of growth zone deposition rate in otoliths and scales of flathead mullet Mugil cephalus and freshwater mullet Myxus capensis from fish of known age

Flathead mullet Mugil cephalus and freshwater mullet Myxus capensis are important components in South African estuarine fish communities and fisheries, but there is little information on their age and growth or age validation. This study validated the periodicity of growth zone formation in sectioned sagittal otoliths and scales of fish of known age that had been at liberty for 10 years. For both M. cephalus and M. capensis, the number of growth zones counted on otolith sections did not differ significantly from the known age of the fish. There were significantly fewer growth zones on scales than the known age of both M. cephalus and M. capensis. Growth zone deposition rate could therefore be validated as annual for otoliths but not for scales of the two species. It is recommended that future ageing studies focus on otoliths rather than scales.Keywords: age validation, growth zones, sagittal otoliths, South AfricaAfrican Journal of Marine Science 2012, 34(3): 455–45

Ecomorphology of largemouth bass relative to a native trophic analogue explains its high invasive impact

Predicting and understanding the impact of biological invaders is a global ecological imperative. Progress has been made through the application of phenomenological analysis via comparative functional response analysis. However, little is known about the mechanisms which drive high-magnitude functional responses of invasive species, especially when compared to trophically analogous natives. Largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides is a freshwater invasive species evaluated as a more efficient predator, with a higher-magnitude functional response, compared to a native analogue, the Cape kurper Sandelia capensis. In order to determine what traits drive this difference we quantified handling time behaviours (detection time, catch time, processing time) of both predator species and prey/predator size ratio, and employ an ecomorphological approach to determine whether largemouth bass is a more specialised predator than Cape kurper. There was no difference in detection time between the species, but largemouth bass were significantly and on average five times faster at catching prey than Cape kurper. Both species’ processing time was positively related to prey size, but Cape kurper was on average 4.5 times faster than largemouth bass. Ecomorphological data indicate that largemouth bass was the more specialised pursuit hunter for fish, whereas Cape kurper was better at ambush hunting. This suggests that the ecological impact of largemouth bass may be exacerbated in areas where there is habitat simplification which can lead to the extirpation of local small-bodied fish. In addition, there may be non-consumptive detrimental effects on trophically analogous natives through competitive exclusion

Food web properties vary with climate and land use in South African streams

1. Land use intensification and climate change are two prominent drivers of variation in biological communities. However, we know very little about how these two potential environmental stressors interact. Here, we use a stable isotope approach to quantify how animal communities respond to urban and agriculture land use, and to latitudinal variation in climate (rainfall and temperature), in 29 streams across South Africa. 2. Community structure was shaped by both land use and climatic factors. The taxonomic diversity of invertebrates was best explained by an independent negative effect of urbanisation, while abundance declined in summer. However, we could not use our variables to predict fish diversity (suggesting that other factors may be more important). 3. Both trophic functional diversity (quantifed using isotopic richness ) and food chain length declined with increasing temperature. Functional redundancy (quantifed using isotopic uniqueness ) in the invertebrate community was high in wet areas, and a synergistic interaction with urbanisation caused the lowest values in dry urban regions. There was an additive effect of agriculture and rainfall on abundance‐weighted vertebrate functional diversity (quantified using isotopic dispersion ), with the former causing a decline in dispersion, with this partially compensated for by high rainfall. 4. In most cases, we found that a single dominant driver (either climate or land use) explained variation between streams. We only found two incidences of combined effects improving the model, one of which was amplified (i.e., the drivers combined to cause an effect larger than the sum of their independent effects), indicating that management should first focus on mitigating the dominant stressor in stream ecosystems for successful restoration efforts. 5. Overall, our study indicates subtle food web responses to multiple drivers of change, only identified by using functional isotope metrics – these are a useful tool for a whole‐systems biology understanding of global change.<br