Regional cooperation for managing marine fish stocks in the APFIC region

For effective management of straddling fish stocks, regional cooperation of the participating countries is required. Formation of regional fisheries forums and intergovernmental consultative machinery's is very vital. The functions of the existing regional bodies and the factors which should form the basis for effective management of fish stocks are discussed

Photosynthetic potential and accumulation of assimilates in the developing chloroembryos of Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub

The photosynthetic potential of leaves and chloroembryos of Cyamopsis fetragonoloba (L.) Taub as measured by 14C-bicarbonate tixatron, Hill activity, atid :n vivo fluorescence transients is compared. On a chlorophyll basis, dark fixation of NaH7'CO3 in chloroembryos was 1.5 times higher than that of the leaf, whereas carbon fixation under illumination was threefold higher in the leaf than in the embryos. Rates of Q2 evolution were four times more tri embryo than in leaf chloroplast

A comparative account of the small pelagic fisheries in the APFIC region

The production of the small pelagics in the APFIC region was 1.2 mt/sq. km during 1995. Among the four areas in the region, the small pelagics have registered (i) the maximum annual fluctuations in the western Indian Ocean; (ii) the highest increase duri'}i the past two decades along the west coast of Thailand in the eastern Indian Ocean; and (iii) the consistent decline in the landings during the past one decade along the Japanese coast in the northwest Pacific Ocean

Status of Marine Mammal Research and Conservation in lndia

In India, earl~ere search on marine mammals was restricted mostly to opportunistic collection of information on strandings and beach-cast specimens. Organised research by government and non-government organisations on these charismatic and vulnerable/endangered animals was initiated approximately 15 years ago. In the last 15 years, data on sightings, species inventory, abundance estimates, DNA sequences and fisheries interaction have been collected. These researches have indicated the need for future enhanced research on these sentinel megafauna of the oceans. At present, all species of marine mammals in the Indian seas are placed under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Capture, use and trade of marine mammals are punishable under the Act. However, marine mammal - fisheries interaction is a major cause for concer

Formation of Chloroplast pigments and photosynthetic potential of chloroembryos in angiosperms

Chlorophyll bearing property of embryos in Angiosperms or its absence is of particular interest because it is not only an embryological but also physiological phenomenon since it may be intimately related to certain peculiarities of plant metabolism which are yet to be elucidated. This review is concerned with critical appraisal of current literature on the physiological studies of chloroembryos. The earlier review by Yakovlev & Zhukova (1980) was on the occurrence and ultrastructure of chloroembryos

Tapping the unexploited plant resources for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles

Development of biologically inspired experimental processes for the synthesis of nanoparticles is evolving into an important branch of nanotechnology. The bioreduction behaviour of various plant leafextracts such as Helianthus annus (Asteraceae), Basella alba (Basellaceae), Oryza sativa, Saccharum officinarum, Sorghum bicolour and Zea mays (Poaceae) in the synthesis of silver nanoparticles wasinvestigated employing UV/Visible spectrophotometry, XRD (X-ray diffraction) and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy). H. annus was found to exhibit strong potential for rapid reduction of silver ions. It was observed that there is no correlation always between the colour development and the increase in absorbance exhibited by the nanometal synthesised. The work adds to the confirmation of previous reports on biosynthesis of nanometals using plant leaf extracts

Impact of rise in seawater temperature on the spawning of threadfin Breams

Fish have strong temperature preferences to spawning. Several species of marine fish are known to spawn only at favorable water temperature that is known to trigger the process of spawning activities. The annually recurring events of life-cycle such as timing of spawning can provide particularly sensitive indicators of changes in climatic change. Many evidences of phenological changes are now available for terrestrial organisms. There is now ample evidence of the effects of climatic change on various biota over the last decades, but the literature on the effects of climate on phenological aspects in marine ecosystems is meager

Identification and characterisation of fisheries management units

This is a discussion paper on the identification of Fisheries Management Units (FMU) in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The choice of fisheries management units or FMUs depends on many factors like fisheries resource configuration, structure of the fisheries, availability of information, institutional aspects and the scale or level at which one can make a significant contribution to the management goals and objectives. Six possible FMU were identified based on various groupings such as fish resources, gear based, fleet based, geographical, harvesters and subsectors, and combinations of these as the seventh FMU. The prospects of each type of FMU in the TN & P context are discussed in detail in this paper

Fisheries Management Options for Tamil Nadu & Puducherry

The specific aim or output of the work package on fisheries management is to “define a new fisheries management system” for Tamil Nadu & Puducherry (TN & PC) since it is an essential tool for achieving the long term development goal of the project. The approach was a mixture of (i) expert consultations with fishery biologists, fishery statisticians, academics, fisheries NGOs, fisheries officials, (ii) review of fisheries management with available current information, (iii) a detailed analysis of catch data species wise, district wise and sector wise (mechanised, motorised and non-motorised) and (iv) an exercise to identify potential Fisheries Management Units (FMUs) and to develop a detailed characterization of them. Based on the above, fisheries management options for TN & PC have been worked out and presented in a state level multi-stakeholder workshop and subsequently refined. This report is the outcome of this process

Marine Fish Production in Tamil Nadu & Puducherry. A Report based on a detailed analysis of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute Data

Continuous growth in TN marine fisheries is observed in the form of introduction of new fishing vessels, fishing methods, new fishing gears and development of different infrastructure since 1950 leading to a five-fold increase in catch and three-fold increase in active fishers. There is a continuous expansion of fishing operation to deeper and distant waters. There has been a continuous discovery of new fishing grounds, new fishery resources and new fishing methods. The entire shelf area off Tamil Nadu (TN) coast is covered by TN fishing fleet and there is no scope for additional catch from the shelf area. The landings grew continuously till 1997, witnessed a sharp fall during 1998-2004 and then a sharp increase in the following years 2006-09 hitting the new peak of 5.39 lakh tonnes well beyond the potential yield estimate of 4.25 lakh tonnes by CMFRI. A section of the TN fishing fleet depend heavily on fishing in neighbouring waters and nearly 20% of the catch comes from South Andhra and Sri Lankan waters. Deep sea fishing is already in vogue in TN as Kanyakumari’s Thoothoor fishers with a fleet of approximately 500 long-liners cum gillnetters reigning all over the west coast and landing their catch at Kochi. Chennai gillnetters and a tiny fleet of long-liners in Puducherry have already started fishing beyond the shelf on the east coast