Importancia del enfoque ecosistémico en las pesquerías de Georgia

The economic downturn in the 1990s and early 2000s associated with the break-up of the Soviet Union had a negative impact on Georgian fisheries. Both marine and freshwater fisheries and aquaculture suffered considerable decline. The Georgian fishing fleet deteriorated. The role of state institutions in fisheries management weakened and funding of scientific research diminished. Economic and institutional problems had a negative effect on the state of aquatic bio-resources. The excessive and relentless use of living resources, use of illegal fishing gear and degradation of coastal ecosystems led to a considerable reduction in fish stocks, while the number of vulnerable and endangered species increased. Starting from the new millennium the attitude has changed. In 2004-2005 the 15-year plan for the development of the ecosystem approach to fisheries in Georgia was initiated with support from the FAO. A Georgian law on fisheries and aquaculture has been introduced. Discussions on responsible fisheries and an aquaculture code have also started, but are still pending. On the other hand, the fisheries department of the Ministry of Agriculture was abolished and the single fisheries research institute met a similar fate. Fisheries regulation came under the authority of the ministry of environment. There is still a lot to be done in order to establish an ecosystem approach to fisheries in Georgia. First of all, the legislative base must be addressed, including the Georgian law on fisheries, which would consider such issues as long-term sustainable development of fisheries, a responsible code of conduct for fishermen, monitoring and management structures at the national level, allocation of resources and application of scientific approaches in development of fisheries, aquaculture and mariculture.La crisis económica del la década de 1990 y principios de 2000 asociada a la caída de la Unión Soviética tuvo un impacto negativo sobre las pesquerías de Georgia. Tanto la pesca de agua dulce como la acuicultura marina sufrieron un importante descenso. La flota pesquera de Georgia se deterioró. Se debilitó el papel de las instituciones estatales en las pesquerías y la financiación de la investigación científica disminuyó considerablemente. Los problemas económicos e institucionales tuvieron un efecto negativo en el estado de los recursos biológicos acuáticos. El uso excesivo de los recursos vivos, el uso de artes de pesca ilegal y la degradación de los ecosistemas costeros, provocó una considerable reducción de las poblaciones de peces, al tiempo que aumentó el número de especies vulnerables y en peligro de extinción. A partir del nuevo milenio la actitud ha cambiado. En el período 2004-2005, con el apoyo de la FAO, se inició el plan de 15 años de duración para el desarrollo del enfoque ecosistémico de la pesca en Georgia. Se introdujo una nueva ley sobre pesca y acuicultura. Sin embargo, las deliberaciones sobre el Código de Conducta para la pesca responsable siguen todavía pendientes. Por otro lado, se eliminó el departamento de pesca del Ministerio de Agricultura y algo similar le ocurrió al instituto de investigación de pesquerías. La regulación de la pesca pasó a manos del Ministerio de Medio Ambiente. Todavía hay mucho por hacer a fin de establecer un enfóque ecosistémico de la pesca en Georgia. En primer lugar, debe aplicarse una base legislativa, e incluir la ley de pesquerías de Georgia en ella. Debe considerar cuestiones, tales como el desarrollo sostenible a largo plazo de las pesquerías, el Código de Conducta para la Pesca Responsable para los pescadores, vigilancia y estructuras de gestión a nivel nacional, asignación de recursos y aplicación de criterios científicos en el desarrollo de la pesca, acuicultura

Age and date for early arrival of the Acheulian in Europe (Barranc de la Boella, la Canonja, Spain)

The first arrivals of hominin populations into Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene are currently considered to have occurred as short and poorly dated biological dispersions. Questions as to the tempo and mode of these early prehistoric settlements have given rise to debates concerning the taxonomic significance of the lithic assemblages, as trace fossils, and the geographical distribution of the technological traditions found in the Lower Palaeolithic record. Here, we report on the Barranc de la Boella site which has yielded a lithic assemblage dating to ,1 million years ago that includes large cutting tools (LCT). We argue that distinct technological traditions coexisted in the Iberian archaeological repertoires of the late Early Pleistocene age in a similar way to the earliest sub-Saharan African artefact assemblages. These differences between stone tool assemblages may be attributed to the different chronologies of hominin dispersal events. The archaeological record of Barranc de la Boella completes the geographical distribution of LCT assemblages across southern Eurasia during the EMPT (Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition, circa 942 to 641 kyr). Up to now, chronology of the earliest European LCT assemblages is based on the abundant Palaeolithic record found in terrace river sequences which have been dated to the end of the EMPT and later. However, the findings at Barranc de la Boella suggest that early LCT lithic assemblages appeared in the SW of Europe during earlier hominin dispersal episodes before the definitive colonization of temperate Eurasia took place.The research at Barranc de la Boella has been carried out with the financial support of the Spanish Ministerio de Economı´a y Competitividad (CGL2012- 36682; CGL2012-38358, CGL2012-38434-C03-03 and CGL2010-15326; MICINN project HAR2009-7223/HIST), Generalitat de Catalunya, AGAUR agence (projects 2014SGR-901; 2014SGR-899; 2009SGR-324, 2009PBR-0033 and 2009SGR-188) and Junta de Castilla y Leo´n BU1004A09. Financial support for Barranc de la Boella field work and archaeological excavations is provided by the Ajuntament de la Canonja and Departament de Cultura (Servei d’Arqueologia i Paleontologia) de la Generalitat de Catalunya. A. Carrancho’s research was funded by the International Excellence Programme, Reinforcement subprogramme of the Spanish Ministry of Education. I. Lozano-Ferna´ndez acknowledges the pre-doctoral grant from the Fundacio´n Atapuerca. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript