Conservation policies informed by food system feedbacks can avoid unintended consequences

Understanding the feedbacks between food systems and conservation policies can help avoid unintended environmental consequences. Using a survey-based choice experiment and economic modelling, we quantify the potential impact of tourists’ responses to a shift in offshore fish supply after the designation of a large-scale marine protected area in Palau. We find that this conservation policy may increase offshore fish prices and tourists’ consumption of reef fish, thereby further endangering local reef ecosystems. However, if tourists are offered a sustainable offshore choice, their demand for fish could be kept at current levels, and environmental impacts from increased reef fish consumption would be avoided

Weak Stock Bycatch Avoidance in the West Coast Ocean Salmon Fishery: A Bioeconomic Model Using Spatio-Temporal Data from Commercial Fishermen

The spatio-temporal overlap of morphologically undistinguishable weak and healthy stocks is a major concern for the Pacific Northwest troll Chinook salmon fishery. Regular fishery closures have led to major financial losses calling for alternative regulatory measures. One approach for such complex and pressing socio-ecological challenges is the transition towards transdisciplinary research spanning disciplinary boundaries. This study combines natural and human sciences with stakeholder participation. Based on a unique genetic dataset, fine-scale patterns of fishing effort, stock distributions and spatial stock overlaps were assessed. Two hot spots of weak Klamath Chinook in the Oregon coast regions were identified and related to the topography. This knowledge was used to develop a simple bioeconomic model to evaluate costs and benefits of re-allocating effort to avoid bycatch of the weak stock. The model is a dynamic, spatially-explicit feedback model, composed of sub-modules, running on a monthly basis. A status quo and an alternative scenario of a 50% cut of Klamath catch were tested. The scenarios show that effort re-allocation can lead to reduction in Klamath catch and increasing net profit but outcomes depend on the distance from the home ports to the new fishing area. The output of the model at its current stage should be regarded strategically, providing a qualitative understanding of the types of best strategies. Despite some challenges in transdisciplinarity discussed in this study and the present limitations to incorporate fine-scale changes of Chinook salmon stock distributions in management regulations, this is the direction that fishery management needs to be heading.Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, held July 11-15, 2016 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center (AECC), Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

Mks6 mutations reveal tissue- and cell type-specific roles for the cilia transition zone

The transition zone (TZ) is a domain at the base of the cilium that is involved in maintaining ciliary compartment-specific sensory and signaling activity by regulating cilia protein composition. Mutations in TZ proteins result in cilia dysfunction, often causing pleiotropic effects observed in a group of human diseases classified as ciliopathies. The purpose of this study is to describe the importance of the TZ component Meckel-Grüber syndrome 6 (Mks6) in several organ systems and tissues regarding ciliogenesis and cilia maintenance using congenital and conditional mutant mouse models. Similar to MKS, congenital loss of Mks6 is embryonic lethal, displaying cilia loss and altered cytoskeletal microtubule modifications but only in specific cell types. Conditional Mks6 mutants have a variable cystic kidney phenotype along with severe retinal degeneration with mislocalization of phototransduction cascade proteins. However, other phenotypes, such as anosmia and obesity, which are typically associated with cilia and TZ dysfunction, were not evident. These data indicate that despite Mks6 being a core TZ component, it has tissue- or cell type-specific functions important for cilia formation and cilia sensory and signaling activities