Into the blue – The blue economy model in Operation Phakisa ‘Unlocking the Ocean Economy’ Programme

Significance: Economic and social benefits of ocean resource uses have motivated numerous nations, including South Africa, to turn to their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) to advance economic development initiatives. Such initiatives result in increasing and spatially competitive pressures on ocean systems, compromising ecosystem services and market and non-market ocean benefits. It is critical to prioritise sustainable development in any ocean or blue economy advancement programmes (where the blue economy model most often parallels a terrestrial green economy, to incorporate sustainability and inclusivity pillars over and above the often GDP-centred ocean economy model). We explore multiple definitions of ocean and blue economies, discuss the importance of adopting blue economy models, and examine how the South African Operation Phakisa – Unlocking the Ocean Economy initiative presents numerous features aligned with ocean sustainable development, sustainability, and inclusivity, which strongly align it to a blue economy model

Abundance of blue whales off Chile from the 1997/98 SOWER survey

The 1997/98 SOWER survey in Chile searched the region from 18°30′S to 38°S. Although the primary intention of the surveys was to maximize blue whale encounters, survey coverage was sufficient to estimate abundance using line transect methods. The baseline abundance estimate, excluding transit legs, was 452 (CV = 0.56, 95% CI: 160–1300). This abundance estimate is negatively biased because inshore regions including Chiloé Island and the Gulf of Corcovado, where blue whales are now known to aggregate, were outside the survey area. If it is conservatively assumed that the baseline estimate applied to the entire population, then the population was at a minimum of 7–23% of pre-exploitation levels in 1997

Every account counts for sustainable development: lessons from the African CoP to implement ocean accounts in the Western Indian Ocean region

The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) is critical in supporting the social and economic development of the nations it borders. To safeguard the various opportunities it provides, it is essential to adopt sustainable ocean development models that balance ocean wealth and ocean health. Such models depend on evidence-based and adaptative ocean governance underpinned by holistic social, environmental and economic indicators. The ocean accounts framework provides a standard accounting structure to integrate social, economic and environmental information in alignment with relevant international statistical standards such as the System of National Accounts and the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting. Applying such a framework produces integrated indicators against which changes can be assessed and measured. These indicators also inform decision-making and support the prioritisation of areas requiring further attention by highlighting data deficiencies, ocean governance gaps and under-explored research areas. The framework encompasses and links several systems of accounting that can be used based on specific priorities. However, three initiation points have been identified that can be further expanded and concatenated into other accounts encompassed by the framework. This publication provides practical guidelines to start implementing national, regional or local ocean accounts, following the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership Technical Guidance on Ocean Accounting. It is further complemented by amendments proposed by the African Community of Practice based on lessons learned during the implementation of ocean accounts pilots across the WIO region. Compiling ocean accounts is an adaptative and iterative process and should be constantly ameliorated and adjusted to local contexts and priorities. However, efforts should be made to maintain coherence with the framework and international standards

Updated application of a photo-identification based assessment model to southern right whales in South African waters, focussing on inferences to be drawn from a series of appreciably lower counts of calving females over 2015 to 2017

This paper extends the analyses of Brandão et al. (2013) which applied the three-mature-stages (receptive, calving and resting) model of Cooke et al. (2003) to photo-identification data available from 1979 to 2012 for southern right whales in South African waters, by taking five further years of data into account. The lower counts of calving females over 2015 to 2017 are indicated to be a reflection of time variability in the probability that a resting whale rests another year, rather than of any mass mortality. The 2017 number of parous females is estimated to be 1 765, the total population (including males and calves) 6 116, and the annual population growth rate 6.5%. This reflects a small decrease to the 6.6% increase rate estimated previously; even in the instance of lesser numbers seen in recent years than estimated previously. Information from resightings of grey blazed calves as adults with calves allows estimation of first year survival rate of 0.852, a slight increase from the previous estimate of 0.850, compared to a subsequent annual rate of 0.988

Listen to the BLUE: Towards a pan-Antarctic monitoring system and blueprint of analysis methods to study fin and Antarctic blue whales in the Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean Research Partnership (SORP) is an international collaborative initiative to develop novel research techniques and conduct non-lethal research on whales in the Southern Ocean. One of SORP’s original five research projects is the Blue and Fin Whale Acoustic Trends Project which aims to implement a long term acoustic research program examining trends in Southern Ocean blue and fin whale population growth, distribution, and seasonal presence using passive acoustic monitoring techniques. Passive acoustic monitoring is a robust means of monitoring whales in remote and difficult to study areas such as the Antarctic over long time periods. Analysis of a wide range of available passive acoustic data has demonstrated spatial and temporal patterns in the occurrence of blue and fin whales in the Southern Ocean. However, the lack of overlap in years and locations monitored, and differences among instrumentation and analysis methods used, underlines the need for coordinated effort. To best exploit passive acoustic methods for monitoring purposes in the future, the SORP Acoustic Trends steering group proposes the placement and maintenance of a pan-Antarctic monitoring system with consistent spatial and temporal coverage in each of the six IWC management areas. Further, blueprints for instrument choice, hardware configurations and analysis methods are being prepared to suggest how data might be best collected and analyzed in a uniform manner to best address the specific research questions for each study species. Through a consistent multi-disciplinary approach with international collaborators, the Blue and Fin Whale Acoustic Trends Project aims to use passive acoustic recordings to measure long term distribution, seasonal occurrence, and population growth trends of fin and Antarctic blue whales in the Southern Ocean

Inter-annual decrease in pulse rate and peak frequency of Southeast Pacific blue whale song types

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Malige, F., Patris, J., Buchan, S. J., Stafford, K. M., Shabangu, F., Findlay, K., Hucke-Gaete, R., Neira, S., Clark, C. W., & Glotin, H. Inter-annual decrease in pulse rate and peak frequency of Southeast Pacific blue whale song types. Scientific Reports, 10(1), (2020): 8121, doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64613-0.A decrease in the frequency of two southeast Pacific blue whale song types was examined over decades, using acoustic data from several different sources in the eastern Pacific Ocean ranging between the Equator and Chilean Patagonia. The pulse rate of the song units as well as their peak frequency were measured using two different methods (summed auto-correlation and Fourier transform). The sources of error associated with each measurement were assessed. There was a linear decline in both parameters for the more common song type (southeast Pacific song type n.2) between 1997 to 2017. An abbreviated analysis, also showed a frequency decline in the scarcer southeast Pacific song type n.1 between 1970 to 2014, revealing that both song types are declining at similar rates. We discussed the use of measuring both pulse rate and peak frequency to examine the frequency decline. Finally, a comparison of the rates of frequency decline with other song types reported in the literature and a discussion on the reasons of the frequency shift are presented.The authors thank the help of Explorasub diving center (Chile), Agrupación turística Chañaral de Aceituno (Chile), ONG Eutropia (Chile), Valparaiso university (Chile), the international institutions and research programs CTBTO, IWC, BRILAM STIC AmSud 17-STIC-01. S.J.B. thanks support from the Center for Oceanographic Research COPAS Sur-Austral, CONICYT PIA PFB31, Biology Department of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Office of Naval Research Global (awards N62909-16-2214 and N00014-17-2606), and a grant to the Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Ãridas (CEAZA) “Programa Regional CONICYT R16A10003”. We thank SABIOD MI CNRS, EADM MaDICS CNRS and ANR-18-CE40-0014 SMILES supporting this research. We are grateful to colleagues at DCLDE 2018 and SOLAMAC 2018 conferences for useful comments on the preliminary version of this work. In this work we used only the free and open-source softwares Latex, Audacity and OCTAVE

Year-round acoustic monitoring of Antarctic blue and fin whales in relation to environmental conditions off the west coast of South Africa

Antarctic blue and fin whales were once abundant in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean, yet their occurrence and ecology in this region is still poorly understood. Seasonal acoustic occurrence and behaviour of Antarctic blue and fin whales off the South African west coast were determined using bio-acoustic data collected through two autonomous acoustic recorders between December 2015 and January 2017. Blue whale Z-calls were detected year-round with a peak in July, while fin whale 20 Hz pulses were detected seasonally with a peak in June by a recorder deployed at 1118 m water depth. Blue and fin whale calls were detected seasonally with a similar peak in May by a recorder deployed at 4481 m water depth. The blue whale 27 Hz chorus, and blue and fin whale 18–28 Hz chorus followed a similar trend as the seasonal acoustic occurrence of individual Z-calls and 20 Hz pulses. A maximum detection range of 800 km estimated by acoustic propagation modelling suggests that detected calls originate from whales within the South African west coast waters. Random forest models classified month of the year, wind speed, log-transformed chlorophyll-a, and sea surface temperature anomaly as the most important predictors of blue and fin whale acoustic occurrence and behaviour. Our study highlights the South African west coast as an important year-round habitat and seasonal breeding or overwintering habitat of these whales. Additionally, the year-round acoustic occurrence in this region supports the notion that blue whale migration patterns are more dynamic than previously perceived.The National Research Foundation and the South African National Antarctic Programme.https://link.springer.com/journal/227hj2023Mammal Research Institut

Cooking Vessels, Volumes, and Venues: Evidence from LM IIIC Kavousi Vronda and Karphi

Glowacki, K.T., and L.P. Day. “Cooking Vessels, Volumes, and Venues: Evidence from LM IIIC Kavousi Vronda and Karphi.” Abstract of paper read at Διατροφικές συνήθειες και πρακτικές στην Κρήτη διαχρονικά [Dietary Habits and Practices in Crete over Time], Museum of Cretan Ethnology, Voroi, Crete, Greece, September 9–10, 2017.Our understanding of diet and culinary practices at the Late Minoan IIIC settlement sites of Kavousi Vronda and Karphi is based upon several different types of physical evidence that have been recovered through excavation. These include the botanical and faunal remains of plants and animals available to and consumed by the inhabitants; ceramic vessels used for the cooking and consumption of food and drink; built and fixed cooking installations, such as hearths and ovens; and the architectural spaces within the settlements where food preparation and consumption most likely took place. Each type of evidence is, by itself, incomplete and dependent upon differential preservation resulting from site formation processes specific to each archaeological context. Taken together, however, they allow us to gain important insights into key aspects of food cultivation, provisioning, processing, preparation, and convivial practices on Crete in the 12th and 11th centuries BC. In this paper, we will compare and contrast the evidence for food preparation and dining at each site, paying special attention to the forms and sizes of ceramic vessels used for cooking and consumption

High-sensitivity troponin and the application of risk stratification thresholds in patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome

Background: Guidelines acknowledge the emerging role of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTnl) for risk stratification and the early rule-out of myocardial infarction, but multiple thresholds have been described. We evaluate the safety and effectiveness of risk stratification thresholds in patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome. Methods: Consecutive patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome (n=48 282) were enrolled in a multicenter trial across 10 hospitals in Scotland. In a prespecified secondary and observational analysis, we compared the performance of the limit of detection (<2 ng/L) and an optimized risk stratification threshold (<5 ng/L) using the Abbott high-sensitivity troponin I assay. Patients with myocardial injury at presentation, with ≤2 hours of symptoms or with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction were excluded. The negative predictive value was determined in all patients and in subgroups for a primary outcome of myocardial infarction or cardiac death within 30 days. The secondary outcome was myocardial infarction or cardiac death at 12 months, with risk modeled using logistic regression adjusted for age and sex. Results: In total, 32 837 consecutive patients (61±17 years, 47% female) were included, of whom 23 260 (71%) and 12,716 (39%) had hs-cTnl concentrations of <5 ng/L and <2 ng/L at presentation. The negative predictive value for the primary outcome was 99.8% (95% CI, 99.7%–99.8%) and 99.9% (95% CI, 99.8%–99.9%) in those with hs-cTnl concentrations of <5 ng/L and <2 ng/L, respectively. At both thresholds, the negative predictive value was consistent in men and women and across all age groups, although the proportion of patients identified as low risk fell with increasing age. Compared with patients with hs-cTnl concentrations of ≥5 ng/L but <99th centile, the risk of myocardial infarction or cardiac death at 12 months was 77% lower in those <5 ng/L (5.3% vs 0.7%; adjusted odds ratio, 0.23 [95% CI, 0.19–0.28]) and 80% lower in those <2 ng/L (5.3% vs 0.3%; adjusted odds ratio, 0.20 [95% CI, 0.14–0.29]). Conclusions: Use of risk stratification thresholds for hs-cTnl identify patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome and at least 2 hours of symptoms as low risk at presentation irrespective of age and sex

First circumglobal assessment of Southern Hemisphere humpback whale mitochondrial genetic variation and implications for management

The description of genetic population structure over a species\u27 geographic range can provide insights into its evolutionary history and also support effective management efforts. Assessments for globally distributed species are rare, however, requiring significant international coordination and collaboration. The global distribution of demographically discrete populations for the humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae is not fully known, hampering the definition of appropriate management units. Here, we present the first circumglobal assessment of mito - chondrial genetic population structure across the species\u27 range in the Southern Hemisphere and Arabian Sea. We combine new and existing data from the mitochondrial (mt)DNA control region that resulted in a 311 bp consensus sequence of the mtDNA control region for 3009 individuals sampled across 14 breeding stocks and subpopulations currently recognized by the International Whaling Commission. We assess genetic diversity and test for genetic differentiation and also estimate the magnitude and directionality of historic matrilineal gene flow between putative populations. Our results indicate that maternally directed site fidelity drives significant genetic population structure between breeding stocks within ocean basins. However, patterns of connectivity differ across the circumpolar range, possibly as a result of differences in the extent of longitudinal movements on feeding areas. The number of population comparisons observed to be significantly differentiated were found to diminish at the subpopulation scale when nucleotide differences were examined, indicating that more complex processes underlie genetic structure at this scale. It is crucial that these complexities and uncertainties are afforded greater consideration in management and regulatory efforts