Atlantic Shortfin Mako: Chronicle of a Death Foretold?

This article outlines recent events concerning the conservation and management trajectory of a highly migratory shark species, the shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus), in the North Atlantic, where it has been routinely captured recreationally and as part of commercial fishing operations alongside other species. Noting recent warnings concerning the high mortality of the species in this ocean region, and the threat of imminent population collapse, this article sets out a number of applicable law of the sea provisions, and carries out an evaluation of relevant measures for target and incidental capture species, discussing their applicability to the mako fishery. It also presents an analysis of regional and global governance actions taken to date by the international community and by individual actors, noting a number of shortfalls, and outlining potential responses

Threats of illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing to biodiversity and food security in the Republic of the Congo

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordIllegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing poses a major threat to effective management of marine resources, impacting biodiversity and communities dependent on these coastal resources. Spatio-temporal patterns of industrial fisheries in developing countries are often poorly understood, with global efforts describing spatial patterns of fishing vessel activity currently based on automatic identification system (AIS) data. However, AIS is often not a legal requirement on fishing vessels, likely resulting in underestimates of the scale and distribution of legal and illegal fishing activity, which could have significant ramifications for targeted enforcement efforts and the management of fisheries resources. To help address this knowledge gap, we analysed three years of vessel monitoring system (VMS) data in partnership with the national fisheries department in the Republic of the Congo to describe the behaviour of national and distant water industrial fleets operating in these waters. We reveal the spatial footprint of the industrial fisheries fleet encompasses over one quarter of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), with an average of 73% of fishing activity taking place on the continental shelf (waters shallower than 200 m). In addition, our findings highlight that VMS is not acting as a deterrent or being effectively used as a pro-active management tool, with as much as 33% (13% on average) of fishing effort occurring within prohibited areas set aside to protect biodiversity, including artisanal fisheries resources; with the distant water fleet (DWF) responsible for as much as 84% of this illegal activity. Given the growth in industrial and distant water fleets across the region, as well as low levels of management and enforcement, these findings highlight that there is an urgent need for the global community to help strengthen regional and national capacity to analyse national scale datasets if efforts to combat IUU fishing are to be effective.Darwin InitiativeWaterloo FoundationWAITT Foundatio

Role of deformation in the decay of 56^{56}Ni and 40^{40}Ca di-nuclei

Inclusive as well as exclusive energy spectra of the light charged particles emitted in the $^{28}Si(E_{lab}=112.6 MeV) + ^{28}Si,^{12}C$ reactions have been measured at the Strasbourg VIVITRON facility in the angular range 15^0 - 150^0, using the ICARE multidetector array. The experimental energy spectra of $\alpha$-particles are generally well reproduced by the statistical model with a spin-dependent level density indicating the onset of defomations at high spin.Comment: 4 pages, 2 ps Figures included -- Talk given at the International Nuclear Physics Conference INPC98, Paris, France, August, 1998 (Proceedings to be published in Nuclear Physics A, 1999) -

Fisheries Centre Research Reports, Vol. 23, No. 3

The development trajectory upon which these West African countries found themselves when they became independent was strongly shaped by this colonialism, which was harsh and difficult to get rid of - particularly for the ex-Portuguese colonies. Traces of colonialism are thus felt at all levels, notably where the struggle for political and economic ‘agency’ after formal independence plunged these countries into perennial political instability (e.g., Guinea Bissau), or long and murderous civil wars and/or wars over natural resources (e.g., Angola, Congo ex-Zaire). Some other countries transited smoothly into neo-colonies, where development and research institutions fail to play their nation-building role, as they serve mainly to maintain previous colonial ties. This has resulted, particularly in the former French colonies, in a general reluctance to transfer knowledge to local institutions. Neo-colonial ties are also illustrated through the profile of exploitation of natural resources, notably fish stocks, to which the former colonial powers often maintains a privileged access. As a result, West African countries did not develop truly national industrial fisheries, which would have formed an obstacle to the foreign industrial fleets that gradually invaded their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). As a consequence, in most of their coastal areas, foreign vessels and the stock depletions they cause(d) hinder the development of the artisanal and local industrial fisheries. This has led to growing tensions, which are only partly alleviated by foreign fleets being reflagged to the countries in whose waters they operate, and landing the low-value part of their catch locally. The resolution of these tensions, increased by growing demands for fish by both consumers in Western Europe and East Asia, and the inhabitants of West African countries, will determine whether issues of food security will prevail over the power of international markets. This is the reason why we contrast, for each country, the catches of smallscale fisheries, which mostly enter the local economies, and those of industrial (mostly foreign) fisheries, which tend to hinder their development.Science, Faculty ofOceans and Fisheries, Institute for theResources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute forUnreviewedFacultyPostdoctora