Habitat Standardization of CPUE Indices: Research Needs

Habitat standardization for billfish CPUE offers a potentially useful alternative to the statistical procedures used in the past. However, most of the assumptions of the current habitatstandardization methodology remain untested and some are not consistent with current knowledge about the behavior of billfish. This paper outlines research required to ensure the methods for habitat standardization produce robust estimates of CPUE

Modeling fishing decisions with spatially explicit agent-based models

A fisher’s decision making process is governed by some key questions that need to be answered for each fishing trip: whether or not to commence a fishing trip, where to go fishing and when to return to port. We studied these decisions on the basis of the results of questionnaire surveys administered to vessel captains and of logbook data for the Florida West Coast commercial reef fish fisheries. Binomial conditional logit models were fitted to the decisions of when to start and end a fishing trip and a multinomial mixed model for deciding fishing location. Decisions of fishermen are influenced by the fishing regulations, price of main target species, wind speed, price of fuel, the day of the week, and the previous year’s pattern of fishing. Coefficients for these factors were used in a spatially explicit agent-based model of the multispecies reef fishery to evaluate management strategies, including the use of fishery dependent data for bio-economic assessments. Current research aims to extend this model to other species and evaluate the bio-economic impact of past and proposed spatial fishing closures in the Gulf of Mexico. Among the impacts to be evaluated are those resulting from fishing closures instituted in the aftermath of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill, and proposed closures of some areas of the Florida west-coast shelf to protect bio-diversity.Keywords: Understanding and Modeling Fishing/Sector Behavior Part I, Fishing Sector Behavior & Activities, Fisheries Economic

Red Scliped: Evaluación del uso de tableros de selección de contenidos online en la docencia de Fisiología Animal I

Durante el curso 2013-2014 se implementó en la asignatura de Fisiología Animal I, del Grado en Biología de la Universidad de Alicante, un entorno personal de aprendizaje (EPA), a partir de la herramienta Scliped. Esta herramienta permitió desarrollar una red social de contenidos seleccionados por el profesorado, como estrategia docente para poner a disposición del alumnado recursos de excelencia que faciliten su aprendizaje. La inversión de tiempo y dinero requerida fue sensiblemente inferior a la necesaria para el desarrollo de materiales específicos equivalentes. El alumnado tuvo a su disposición un tablero de 130 contenidos seleccionados, distribuidos en 34 colecciones. Al finalizar el curso escolar 2013-2014, el EPA había recibido un total de 60.794 visitas. La evaluación del uso y conformidad del alumnado con esta herramienta mostró que, si bien opinaban que su uso era innovador, no podría sustituir la labor del profesorado. El porcentaje de adhesión a la herramienta fue bajo, tan sólo el 16% del alumnado encuestado, sin embargo, este grupo declaró que el uso de Scliped era sencillo y atractivo, que los contenidos eran pertinentes y estaban bien organizados, y que les habían facilitado el estudio y la comprensión de la materia

Midlatitude Oceanic Cloud and Precipitation Properties as Sampled by the ARM Eastern North Atlantic Observatory

An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2019 American Geophysical Union.Marine low clouds are critical to the climate system because of their extensive coverage and associated controls on boundary layer dynamics and radiative energy balance. The primary foci for this study are marine low cloud observations over a heavily instrumented site on the Azores archipelago in the Eastern North Atlantic and their associated raindrop size distribution (DSD) properties, relative low cloud contributions to the precipitation, and additional sampling (instrument, environmental) considerations. The contribution from low clouds (e.g., cloud top < 4 km) to the overall precipitation over midlatitude oceans is poorly understood, in part because of the lack of coupled, high‐quality measurements of precipitation and low cloud properties. Cloud regime and precipitation breakdowns performed for a multiyear (2014–2017) record emphasize diurnal precipitation and raindrop size distribution characteristics for both low and deeper clouds, as well as differences between the two disdrometer types used. Results demonstrate that marine low clouds over this Eastern North Atlantic location account for a significant (45%) contribution to the total rainfall and exhibit a diurnal cycle in cloud (thickness, top, and base) and precipitation characteristics similar to satellite records. Additional controls on observed surface rainfall characteristics of low clouds allowed by the extended ground‐based facility data sets are also explored. From those analyses, it is suggested that the synoptic state exerts a significant control on low cloud and surface precipitation properties

The Center for Independent Experts: The National External Peer Review Program of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service

Requirements are growing for peer review of the science used for governmental management decisions. This is particularly true for fisheries science, where management decisions are often controversial. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service instituted the Center for Independent Experts (CIE) in 1998 as a national peer-review program. Operations of the CIE, run under a contract with the University of Miami, maintain the independence of reviewers from the agency, and follow strict conflict of interest guidelines. Reviews by the CIE fulfill the requirements of the Information Quality Act and the Office of Management and Budget's Peer Review Bulletin. The CIE completed 101 reviews between 1999 and September 2006. Ninety-eight reviewers have participated in CIE reviews, with 72% of them coming from overseas. Case studies involving groundfish data and stock assessments, and marine-mammal abundance, are described, including the scientific issues, CIE operations, requirements for the reviews, conclusions of the reviewers, and the agency's responses. Impacts of the CIE on the agency's science include improvements to regional stock assessment processes and to stock-assessment and field-survey methods, and reductions in contentious challenges to the agency's science.Keywords: Experts, Peer Review, Fishery Managemen

Hackathon in teaching: Machine Learning applied to Life Sciences

La programación ha sido tradicionalmente una competencia perteneciente a las ingenierías, que recientemente está adquiriendo una importancia significativa en áreas como Ciencias de la Vida, donde resulta fundamental para la resolución de problemas de análisis de datos. Este trabajo es un caso de estudio enmarcado en la necesidad de mejorar las habilidades, sobre análisis de datos en el alumnado de Ciencias de la Vida y de la base temática en los estudiantes de ingeniería. Mediante la herramienta del hackathon y el trabajo en equipo, se combinó al alumnado de ambas disciplinas y se le enfrentó a una serie de problemas de análisis de datos. Se establecieron equipos de trabajo que recibieron una formación previa al comienzo de la competición. De cada equipo, se valoró la metodología empleada para la obtención de los datos, su análisis, interpretación de resultados, y exposición de las diversas tareas. Se hizo un análisis descriptivo de los resultados del Proyecto mediante encuestas al alumnado, así como su percepción sobre las actividades realizadas. El Proyecto ha conseguido que el alumnado resuelva los problemas planteados, difícilmente abordables con equipos unidisciplinares, generando un aprendizaje común y una experiencia multidisciplinar altamente satisfactoria tanto para el alumnado como para el profesorado.Programming has traditionally been an engineering competence, but recently it is acquiring significant importance in several areas, such as Life Sciences, which is considered essential for problem-solving based on data analysis. This work is a case study framed within the need to improve not only the data analysis skills of life science students, but also the biological background concerning the given issue of engineering students. Using hackathon and teamwork-based tools, students from both disciplines have been made and challenged with a series of problems in the area of Life Sciences. To solve these problems, we established work teams trained before the competition's beginning. Their results were assessed concerning the approach to obtain the data, perform the analysis, and finally interpret and present the results to solve the challenges. The project outcomes were assessed using structured surveys for students and their overall perception. The project succeeded, meaning students solved the proposed problems and achieved the activity's goals. These goals would have been difficult to address with teams composed of students from the same field of study. The hackathon succeeded in generating a shared learning and a multidisciplinary experience for their professional training, being highly rewarding for both students and faculty members

Cationic glycopolymers with aggregation-induced emission for the killing, imaging, and detection of bacteria

Cationic glycopolymers with structures similar to those of typical poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) were synthesized via the quaternization reaction of poly(4-vinyl pyridine) with halogen-functionalized d-mannose and tetraphenylethylene units. Such postpolymerization modification provided PILs with aggregation-induced emission effect as well as specific carbohydrate-protein recognition with lectins such as concanavalin A. The interactions between cationic glycopolymers and different microorganisms, including Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli, were used for the killing, imaging, and detection of bacteria. Besides, these sugar-containing PILs showed a relatively low hemolysis rate due to the presence of saccharide units, which may have potential application in the field of biomaterials

Major flaws in conflict prevention policies towards Africa : the conceptual deficits of international actors’ approaches and how to overcome them

Current thinking on African conflicts suffers from misinterpretations oversimplification, lack of focus, lack of conceptual clarity, state-centrism and lack of vision). The paper analyses a variety of the dominant explanations of major international actors and donors, showing how these frequently do not distinguish with sufficient clarity between the ‘root causes’ of a conflict, its aggravating factors and its triggers. Specifically, a correct assessment of conflict prolonging (or sustaining) factors is of vital importance in Africa’s lingering confrontations. Broader approaches (e.g. “structural stability”) offer a better analytical framework than familiar one-dimensional explanations. Moreover, for explaining and dealing with violent conflicts a shift of attention from the nation-state towards the local and sub-regional level is needed.Aktuelle Analysen afrikanischer Gewaltkonflikte sind häufig voller Fehlinterpretationen (Mangel an Differenzierung, Genauigkeit und konzeptioneller Klarheit, Staatszentriertheit, fehlende mittelfristige Zielvorstellungen). Breitere Ansätze (z. B. das Modell der Strukturellen Stabilität) könnten die Grundlage für bessere Analyseraster und Politiken sein als eindimensionale Erklärungen. häufig differenzieren Erklärungsansätze nicht mit ausreichender Klarheit zwischen Ursachen, verschärfenden und auslösenden Faktoren. Insbesondere die richtige Einordnung konfliktverlängernder Faktoren ist in den jahrzehntelangen gewaltsamen Auseinandersetzungen in Afrika von zentraler Bedeutung. Das Diskussionspapier stellt die große Variationsbreite dominanter Erklärungsmuster der wichtigsten internationalen Geber und Akteure gegenüber und fordert einen Perspektivenwechsel zum Einbezug der lokalen und der subregionalen Ebene für die Erklärung und Bearbeitung gewaltsamer Konflikte

45th Annual Larval Fish Conference & 13th International Larval Biology Symposium San Diego, California 29 August – 1 September, 2022

INDITU

A Fishery Manager's Guidebook, Second Edition

A Fishery Managers' Guidebook was first published as an FAO Fisheries Technical Paper in 2002 to meet the need for information and guidance on the broad and often complex task of fisheries management. Based on subsequent experience and feedback gained from publication of the first edition, this new volume, has been expanded to provide broader coverage of the key elements of the task and updated in order to keep track of the rapid developments in theory and practice as academics and practitioners struggle to confront the many challenges facing modern fisheries management