Gold Nanoparticle-Quantum Dot Fluorescent Nanohybrid:Application for Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance-induced Molecular Beacon Ultrasensitive DNA Detection

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Assessment of the South African hake resource taking its two-species nature into account

The commercially valuable hake fishery off South Africa consists of two morphologically similar species, the shallow-water Cape hake Merluccius capensis and the deep-water Cape hake M. paradoxus. Because catch-andeffort statistics collected from the fishery are not species-disaggregated, previous published quantitative assessment methods have treated the two hake species as one. Furthermore, recent evidence suggests that (although treated as two separate populations in past assessments) the South and West coasts components of each species form a single stock. This paper describes the development of the first fully species-disaggregated coast-wide baseline assessment of the South African hake resource. M. paradoxus is estimated to be currently a

A history of recent bases for management and the development of a species-combined Operational Management Procedure for the South African hake resource

The bases for historical catch limits placed on the hake fishery are reviewed in brief for earlier years and then in some depth over the period from 1991 when the Operational Management Procedure (OMP) approach was introduced for this fishery. The new OMP implemented from 2007 was the first to be based on the use of rigorous species-disaggregated assessments of the resource as Operating Models. The paper describes the Reference Set and range of robustness trials, together with the associated Operating Models, which were used for the simulation testing of the new OMP. Performance statistics for a number of candidate OMPs are compared, and the two key trade-off decisions in the selection process discussed (substantial Merluccius paradoxus and catch per unit effort [CPUE] recovery, and total allowable catch [TAC] stability constraints). Details of the OMP adopted and how its formulae depend on recent trends in CPUE and survey estimates of abundance are provided. OMP-2007, which is tuned to a median 20-year recovery target of 20% of pristine spawning biomass for M. paradoxus and a 50% increase in CPUE over the next 10 years, has been adopted for recommending hake TACs over the 2007–2010 period until the next scheduled major review. A set of general guidelines adopted for the process of possible overruling of recommendations from OMPs or bringing forward their reviews within an otherwise intended four-year cycle is detailed. Keywords: hake; Merluccius; management; management procedure; OMP; South AfricaAfrican Journal of Marine Science 2008, 30(2): 291–31

A review of the assessments of the major fisheries resources in South Africa

<div><p>The waters off South Africa's coastline boast a rich mix of commercially fished species. Quantitative assessments of these marine resources have developed from simple methods first applied in the 1970s, to models that encompass a wide range of methodologies. The more valuable resources have undergone regular assessments in recent decades, with frequencies closely related to the management approach employed for each fishery. Many of these assessments form the operating models used to simulation-test candidate management procedures. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the assessments of 11 of the most important fisheries resources in South Africa. Some assessments use simple biomass dynamics models, whereas others are a hybrid of age- and length-based models, each designed to model the specific characteristics of the resource and fishery concerned. Many of the assessments have been disaggregated by species/stock and/or area as related multispecies/stock/ distribution hypotheses have arisen. This paper explores the similarities and differences in the data available and the methods applied. The review indicates that, whereas the status of three of these resources cannot be estimated reliably at present, the status of six resources is considered to be reasonable to good, whereas that of abalone <i>Haliotis midae</i> and West Coast rock lobster <i>Jasus lalandii</i> remains poor.</p></div

Advancing Aquatic Ecosystem-Based Management with Full Consideration of the Social-Ecological System

In this study we present an integrated Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) approach that attempts to reconcile several concepts including integratedecosystem assessment (IEA), marine spatial planning, resilience thinking, and complex adaptive systems. The approach builds on the IEA process but enhances it by explicitly considering the full social-ecological system (SES) and the creation of ageneric framework for assessment of ecosystem status and management strategyevaluation

Global in scope and regionally rich: an IndiSeas workshop helps shape the future of marine ecosystem indicators

This report summarizes the outcomes of an IndiSeas workshop aimed at using ecosystem indicators to evaluate the status of the world’s exploited marine ecosystems in support of an ecosystem approach to fisheries, and global policy drivers such as the 2020 targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Key issues covered relate to the selection and integration of multi-disciplinary indicators, including climate, biodiversity and human dimension indicators, and to the development of data- and model-based methods to test the performance of ecosystem indicators in providing support for fisheries management. To enhance the robustness of our cross-system comparison, unprecedented effort was put in gathering regional experts from developed and developing countries, working together on multi-institutional survey datasets, and using the most up-to-date ecosystem models