Evaluation of the potential benefits of iron supplementation in organic pig farming

Background: Iron from the stock acquired during foetal life and the ingestion of milk is not sufficient to cover the needs of the piglets during their first weeks of life. In organic farming, systematic supplementation with iron is problematic due to a strong limitation in pharmaceutic treatments. Methods: Erythroid parameters around weaning were measured in piglets from organic outdoor and indoor farms, and related to indicators of the inflammatory status. Blood samples were collected from 28.9±2.6 piglets/herd at 42.0±3.2 days of age and 11.9±3.0 kg live weight (mean ± SD) in 21 farms from the west part of France. Among the 11 outdoor farms, only one had supplemented piglets with 200 mg iron while among the 10 indoor farms, only one had not supplemented piglets, one had supplemented them with 100 mg, 8 with 200 mg and one with 400 mg. Results: Compared to outdoor piglets without supplementation, piglets kept indoors and receiving 200 mg iron had lower haemoglobin concentration (105 vs 118±2 g/l, mean ± SE) and red blood cell volume (56 vs 60±1 fl) (P<0.005). The reduction in haemoglobin concentration and red blood cell volume was more pronounced in indoor piglets supplemented with 100 mg of iron and even more when they had not received iron. The plasma concentration of haptoglobin was lower in outdoor than in indoor piglets (0.51±0.06 vs 0.78±0.09 g/l) whereas no effect of housing was observed for markers of oxidative stress (dROM, BAP). In the 14 farms where sow parity was known, the haemoglobin concentration was lower in piglets from primiparous than from multiparous sows (109 versus 114±2 g/l, P < 0.001). Conclusion: With the exception of soils where the content of bioavailable iron is very low, piglets from outdoor farms do not require iron supplementation, unlike those raised indoors

“Draw the sea…”: Children’s representations of ocean connectivity in Fiji and New Caledonia

In the South Pacific region, marine territories and resources play a crucial role for local communities. Children engage with these territories and resources from an early age onwards. As the next ocean stewards, they are a stakeholder group whose understandings of ocean connectivity and fisheries should be given serious consideration in decision-making processes towards the sustainable use and management of coastal seas. This paper analyses 290 children’s drawings from Fiji and New Caledonia, created in 2019 in spontaneous response to the instruction: “Draw the sea and what you and others do in the sea”. Exploring the webs of connections with and within the sea revealed by these children’s drawings and their own interpretations leads us to discuss children’s representations of the sea: (1) beyond a land-sea compartmentation, (2) as a locus of both exploitation and conservation of marine life, and (3) as a ‘place-full’ space connecting human and more-than-human realms

Herpes simplex virus encephalitis in a patient with complete TLR3 deficiency: TLR3 is otherwise redundant in protective immunity

A new autosomal recessive form of complete TLR3 deficiency reveals that human TLR3 is nonredundant in immunity against herpes simplex virus 1 in the central nervous system (CNS) but redundant in host defense against viruses outside the CNS

Fisheries in the Pacific The Challenges of Governance and Sustainability

International audienc

"Tackling coastal ‘overfishing’ in Fiji: Advocating for indigenous worldview, knowledge and values to be the backbone of fisheries management strategies"

International audienceSince the 1990s, natural resource management programmes are expected to integrate the holistic environmental knowledge of the indigenous people concerned, and this is supposed to significantly contribute to the empowerment of the latter. Yet, social science studies have established that, in practice, this is not automatically the case. Based on anthropological research in Fiji (South Pacific), this paper aims to contribute, through a specific focus on fisheries management, to the challenging of the power asymmetries still underlying most endeavours to combine indigenous knowledge systems and western ecological science. In particular, it highlights that the concept of 'overfishing'-a decisive driver of today's coastal and reef fisheries management efforts in Fiji and beyond-tends to veil the 'connectedness in all things' that is at the core of the indigenous Fijian (iTaukei) epistemology, articulated around the vernacular concept of vanua. In the frame of this concept, human and fish behaviours are intrinsically interrelated, not only from ecological and economic perspectives, but also through fundamental sociocultural, spiritual and political relationships. The authors therefore advocate for a framing of coastal and reef fisheries management efforts that systematically (1) builds upon the iTaukei relational ontology and knowledge system, and (2) involves the local customary and religious leaders in accordance with their own worldview and values

Fisheries in the Pacific : The challenges of governance and sustainability

Fisheries in the Pacific: The Challenges of Governance and Sustainability is a multidisciplinary book, which examines various aspects of coastal and oceanic fisheries in Pacific waters. These interrelated fisheries sectors are critical for regional food security and also represent a reserve of food resources for the rest of the world. The introduction and eight chapters highlight that both these sectors raise major economic and ecological issues while revealing significant social changes, political asymmetries and alliances, geostrategic rationales, developments in legislation, customary dynamics, and conservation challenges. Through complementary approaches and interpretations of both quantitative and qualitative data, this book aims to contribute to a better understanding of the current situation of fisheries in the Pacific. It also responds to the compelling need to establish a constructive and ongoing dialogue on the matter between social scientists and environmental scientists, based in Europe and in the Pacific Islands, and between these experts and the various stakeholders and policy-making institutions involved in the Pacific region

The ridge-to-reef approach on Cicia Island, Fiji

Many Pacific countries and territories embrace an officially recognized 'ridge-to-reef' approach to environmental management. This is the case of Fiji, where the Lau Seascape Strategy 2018-2030, led by Conservation International, aims for integrated natural resource management across 335 895 km(2). This area includes Cicia Island, which deserves particular attention since, years before the design of the Lau Seascape Strategy, its population developed its own informal ridge-to-reef scheme, involving a combination of certified organic agriculture and locally managed marine closures. Based on 1 month of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper presents this scheme and highlights local perception and conceptualization of its positive effects on both the land and the sea. These reflect the iTaukei (Indigenous Fijian) concept of vanua, which intrinsically connects the health of the land, the sea, and their (human and non-human) dwellers, while stressing the importance of addressing land-sea processes and management efforts beyond an ecological perspective, i.e. through an engagement with the iTaukei relational ontology

Rethinking indigenous / local knowledge and western ecological science combination in Fiji: On the role of social sciences in tackling overfishing

International audienc

Rethinking indigenous / local knowledge and western ecological science combination in Fiji: On the role of social sciences in tackling overfishing

International audienc