An Economic Appraisal of Composite Carp Culture in West Bengal

Aquaculture sector is gaining momentum through its contribution towards Indian as well asworld economy in terms of nutritional and livelihood security. Carp farming is one of the most widely adopted technologies in aquaculture sector. The study was carried out in randomly selected South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. The study aims at assessing economic viability of composite carp culture through analyzing the cost and returns of the technology. Data were collected from 142 fish farmers through personal interview. The average pond area of the farmers was found to be 1.9 acre and mean fish yield was 3.6 t/ha/yr. Rate of return on total investment (ROI) and Benefit-Cost ratio (B: C ratio) for adopters and non-adopters were worked out as 85.84%; 1.86 and 63.03%; 1.63 respectively. Supplementary feed constituted the maximum share in cost of production of fish followed by lease value of pond and pond preparation cost. The study implies composite carp culture technology as economically feasible with impressive benefit-cost ratio

A low-cost solution for documenting distribution and abundance of endangered marine fauna and impacts from fisheries

Fisheries bycatch is a widespread and serious issue that leads to declines of many important and threatened marine species. However, documenting the distribution, abundance, population trends and threats to sparse populations of marine species is often beyond the capacity of developing countries because such work is complex, time consuming and often extremely expensive. We have developed a flexible tool to document spatial distribution and population trends for dugongs and other marine species in the form of an interview questionnaire supported by a structured data upload sheet and a comprehensive project manual. Recognising the effort invested in getting interviewers to remote locations, the questionnaire is comprehensive, but low cost. The questionnaire has already been deployed in 18 countries across the Indo-Pacific region. Project teams spent an average of USD 5,000 per country and obtained large data sets on dugong distribution, trends, catch and bycatch, and threat overlaps. Findings indicated that >50% of respondents had never seen dugongs and that 20% had seen a single dugong in their lifetimes despite living and fishing in areas of known or suspected dugong habitat, suggesting that dugongs occurred in low numbers. Only 3% of respondents had seen mother and calf pairs, indicative of low reproductive output. Dugong hunting was still common in several countries. Gillnets and hook and line were the most common fishing gears, with the greatest mortality caused by gillnets. The questionnaire has also been used to study manatees in the Caribbean, coastal cetaceans along the eastern Gulf of Thailand and western Peninsular Malaysia, and river dolphins in Peru. This questionnaire is a powerful tool for studying distribution and relative abundance for marine species and fishery pressures, and determining potential conservation hotspot areas. We provide the questionnaire and supporting documents for open-access use by the scientific and conservation communities

Multi-habitat carbon stock assessments to inform nature-based solutions for coastal seascapes in arid regions

Coastal ecosystems are integral to global carbon cycling and are increasingly recognised for their role in mitigating climate change. Within these ecosystems, the dynamics of carbon storage are diverse, varying significantly across different habitats. However, existing management strategies often focus predominantly on vegetated habitats neglecting the contributions of non-vegetated areas. We address this knowledge gap by providing a quantitative spatial assessment of carbon storage across coastal seascapes varying in plant biomass. Our comprehensive multi-habitat inventory of carbon stocks in the United Arab Emirates confirmed that mangroves are the largest carbon-storing habitat per hectare (94.3 t/ha), followed by saltmarshes (63.6 t/ha), microbial mats (51.6 t/ha), mudflats (46.8 t/ha), seagrass (32.5 t/ha), and coastal sabkha (31.0 t/ha).Mean carbon content in the top 50 cm of mangrove soils (53.9 t/ha) was similar to saltmarshes (52.7 t/ha), microbial mats (51.6 t/ha), and mudflats (46.8 t/ha). We highlight the importance of including non-vegetated habitats in carbon accounting and management strategies. Our findings suggest that a more context-specific whole-system approach is essential for guiding effective ecosystem management and designing ecologically meaningful Nature-based Solutions (NbS). Adopting this broader perspective in NbS can ensure more comprehensive conservation and restoration outcomes, which not only protect and enhance blue carbon ecosystems but also contribute to broader ecological and social benefits. This approach is pivotal for advancing our understanding of interconnected coastal ecosystems and their role in climate change mitigation

Short-term behavioural responses to thermal stress by hawksbill turtles in the Arabian region

We present a previously unrecorded short-term behavioural response by hawksbill sea turtles to elevated sea surface temperatures in the Persian/Arabian Gulf. Surface waters typically exceed 30°C for sustained periods during the summer, and can be likened to a natural living laboratory for understanding thermoregulatory behaviour by marine species in the face of climate change and elevated global temperatures. We satellite-tracked 90 post-nesting hawksbill turtles between 2010 and 2013 as part of a larger programme to elucidate turtle foraging habitats and post-nesting behaviour. We used 66 of these datasets, where turtles clearly departed and returned to foraging grounds, for these analyses. Sea surface temperatures during the summer averaged 33.5°C and peaked at 34.9°C. During these elongated periods of elevated temperatures (June–August) the turtles temporarily migrated an average of 70km to deeper and cooler waters at northern latitudes, returning after 2–3months (September–October) back to original feeding grounds. Temperature differential T∆ between foraging and summer loop habitats was significantly different and approximated −2°C. Turtles undertaking summer migration loops generally moved in a north-easterly direction toward deeper water, returning in a south-westerly direction to the shallower foraging grounds. Swim speeds were significantly higher and orientation was less omnidirectional during the migrations than when foraging. The outbound migrations were significantly inversely correlated with temperature, but were not linked to chlorophyll-a, geostrophic currents or sea surface height. The turtles' preference for returning to the same foraging grounds suggests a lack of other substantial influences which might have precipitated the temporary summer migration loops. Our results indicate that Gulf hawksbills employ thermoregulatory responses which take them out of high temperature and potentially physiology-threatening conditions. These findings improve our overall understanding of hawksbill habitat use and behaviour in a climate-challenged environment, and support sea turtle conservation-related policy decision-making at national and regional levels.Emirates Wildlife Society—World Wild Fund for Nature Office. 7Days, Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, Bridgestone, CASP, College of the North Atlantic, Qatar, Deutsche Bank, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority, Dubai Festival City, Emirates Palace, Environment & Protected Areas Authority, Sharjah, Environment Agency—Abu Dhabi, Fairmont, Géant, Gulftainer, HSBC, Intercontinental, Dubai Festival City, Jebel Ali Golf Resort & Spa, Jumeirah Etihad Towers, Linklaters, Momentum Logistics, Mubadala, Murjan Marinas, Nokia, Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, The Club, TimeOut Dubai, and the Young Presidents Organisation

Identification of Important Sea Turtle Areas (ITAs) for hawksbill turtles in the Arabian Region

We present the first data on hawksbill turtle post-nesting migrations and behaviour in the Arabian region. Tracks from 90 post-nesting turtles (65 in the Gulf and 25 from Oman) revealed that hawksbills in the Arabian region may nest up to 6 times in a season with an average of 3 nests per turtle. Turtles from Qatar, Iran and the UAE generally migrated south and southwest to waters shared by the UAE and Qatar. A smaller number of turtles migrated northward towards Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and one reached Kuwait. Omani turtles migrated south towards Masirah island and to Quwayrah, staying close to the mainland and over the continental shelf. The widespread dispersal of hawksbill foraging grounds across the SW Gulf may limit habitat protection options available to managers, and we suggest these be linked to preservation of shallow water habitats and fishery management. In contrast, the two main foraging areas in Oman were small and could be candidates for protected area consideration. Critical migration bottlenecks were identified at the easternmost point of the Arabian Peninsula as turtles from Daymaniyat Islands migrate southward, and between Qatar and Bahrain. Overall, Gulf turtles spent 68% of the time in foraging ground with home ranges of 40–60km2 and small core areas of 6km2. Adult female turtles from Oman were significantly larger than Gulf turtles by ~11cm x¯=81.4CCL and spent 83% of their time foraging in smaller home ranges with even smaller core areas (~3km2), likely due to better habitat quality and food availability. Gulf turtles were among the smallest in the world x¯=70.3CCL and spent an average of 20% of time undertaking summer migration loops, a thermoregulatory response to avoid elevated sea surface temperatures, as the Gulf regularly experiences sustained sea surface temperatures >30°C. Fishery bycatch was determined for two of the 90 turtles. These spatio-temporal findings on habitat use will enable risk assessments for turtles in the face of multiple threats including oil and gas industries, urban and industrial development, fishery pressure, and shipping. They also improve our overall understanding of hawksbill habitat use and behaviour in the Arabian region, and will support sea turtle conservation-related policy decision-making at national and regional levels.Emirates Wildlife Society–World Wild Fund for Nature. 7Days, Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, Bridgestone, CASP, College of the North Atlantic-Qatar, Deutsche Bank, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority, Dubai Festival City, Emirates Palace, Environment & Protected Areas Authority, Sharjah, Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi, Fairmont, Géant, Gulftainer, HSBC, Intercontinental, Dubai Festival City, Jebel Ali Golf Resort & Spa, Jumeirah Etihad Towers, Linklaters, Momentum Logistics, Mubadala, Murjan Marinas, Nokia, Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, The Club, TimeOut Dubai, and the Young Presidents Organisation

Health Monitoring KIOSK: An effective system for ru ral health management

In the rural areas of our country, patients went to the public health centers (PHC) for their treatmen t. PHCs in India are allotted with hardly one doctor. It is really difficult at a single doctor’s end to provi de treatment to huge number of patients approaching a single doc tor. Therefore, in this work it is proposed to deve lop an automated diagnosis system by developing a Health K IOSK

開設Khana Ready印度餐廳之企畫書

開設Khana Ready印度餐廳之企畫書Introduction As India is moving towards global standards, Indian food is not far behind. Indian food has charmed the taste of consumers all over the world and continuing to do so. Taiwanese food market is pretty diversified. Taiwanese consumers like to have different cuisine. Indian food already has made a big impact on Taiwanese consumers to make it one of the most lovable cuisines currently in Taiwan. Usage of herbs imported from India makes the Indian food more lovable and very special. It’s about 20 years when the first Indian restaurant opened in Taipei. Since then it started mushrooming. Currently Indian food business became a lucrative model in this region. As a normal idea about Indian food in Taiwan is “it’s delicious and no comparisons to this but it’s expensive”. So the consumers prefer it only on the special occasion or business meals. Although it’s one of the most lovable foods, most of the consumer populations are untouched. I have gone through a small research process to come out with this business plan. On the basis of the result I got, I pen down this business plan. In this business plan I am going to put a proposal to start an Indian food store. This talks about the existing market situation, potential risks, competitors and consumer behaviors. This business plan includes on the revenue calculation, pricing strategy, promotion strategy and break even analysis. This intention of this business model is to bring the Indian food to the consumer at an affordable price with convenience. This is to create a new level for Indian food in existing Taiwan food market