Disentangling habitat concepts for demersal marine fish management

Fishing and other anthropogenic impacts have led to declines in many fish stocks and modification of the seabed. As a result, efforts to restore marine ecosystems have become increasingly focused on spatially explicit management methods to protect fish and the habitats they require for survival. This has led to a proliferation of investigations trying to map ‘habitats’ vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts and identify fish resource requirements in order to meet conservation and management needs. A wide range of habitat-related concepts, with different uses and understandings of the word ‘habitat’ itself has arisen as a consequence. Inconsistencies in terminology can cause confusion between studies, making it difficult to investigate and understand the ecology of fish and the factors that affect their survival. Ultimately, the inability to discern the relationships between fish and their environment clearly can hinder conservation and management measures for fish populations. This review identifies and addresses the present ambiguity surrounding definitions of ‘habitat’ and habitat-related concepts currently used in spatial management of demersal marine fish populations. The role of spatial and temporal scales is considered, in addition to examples of how to assess fish habitat for conservation and management purposes

An assessment of juvenile Atlantic cod distribution and growth using diver operated stereo-video surveys

Protecting juvenile fish habitat is of particular importance for their survival. However, in many cases fish habitat requirements are poorly understood. Stereo-video methods can provide non-destructive quantitative information on fish abundance and size in relation to their surrounding environment. Stereo-video SCUBA transects were conducted during daylight hours from June to September 2013 within a proposed Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Firth of Clyde, west of Scotland. More juvenile Atlantic cod Gadus morhua of size range 6 – 11 cm were observed in substrata containing mixed gravel, including maerl, than in boulder-cobble substrata with high algal cover, or sand with low density seagrass. Community composition was significantly different between substratum types. A decrease in G. morhua abundance was observed over the period of data collection. Over time, mean and variance in fish size increased, indicating multiple recruitment events. Protecting mixed gravel substrata could be a beneficial management measure to support the survival and recruitment of juvenile G. morhua, other substrata might be important at night given their diel migratory behaviour. Stereo-video cameras provide a useful non-destructive fisheries independent method to monitor species abundance and length measurements

Juvenile gadoids habitat association and ontogenetic shift observations using stereo-video baited cameras

Understanding habitat variables affecting species distribution and survival is essential to their protection. This is especially important in areas where anthropogenic pressures can have a significant direct impact on not only the survival of the species but also damage their habitat. The Firth of Clyde, southwestern Scotland, was an important commercial fishing area for a variety demersal fish species up until 1973. However, stocks have since declined to near-zero despite fisheries measures put in place to aid recovery. Here we report on Stereo Baited Remote Underwater Video (SBRUV) surveys in the Firth of Clyde between June and September in 2013 and 2014 to determine the habitat of juvenile Atlantic cod Gadus morhua, haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus, and whiting Merlangius merlangus. Habitat predictor variables explored included substratum type, depth, wave fetch, and bentho-demersal species diversity. G. morhua were most abundant in shallow, sheltered areas composed of gravel-pebble containing maerl. Ontogenetic shifts and density dependence were also observed. M. aeglefinus, and M. merlangus predominated over deeper sand and mud. Relative abundances of all three species were positively related to bentho-demersal diversity. This work demonstrates the potential of SBRUV as a non-destructive survey tool under northern-temperate conditions. Our results indicate that spatial conservation measures to benefit demersal fish should be advised by patterns of bentho-demersal diversity as well as physical substratum types

An assessment of juvenile Atlantic cod distribution and growth using diver operated stereo-video surveys

Protecting juvenile fish habitat is of particular importance for their survival. However, in many cases fish habitat requirements are poorly understood. Stereo-video methods can provide non-destructive quantitative information on fish abundance and size in relation to their surrounding environment. Stereo-video SCUBA transects were conducted during daylight hours from June to September 2013 within a proposed Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Firth of Clyde, west of Scotland. More juvenile Atlantic cod Gadus morhua of size range 6 – 11 cm were observed in substrata containing mixed gravel, including maerl, than in boulder-cobble substrata with high algal cover, or sand with low density seagrass. Community composition was significantly different between substratum types. A decrease in G. morhua abundance was observed over the period of data collection. Over time, mean and variance in fish size increased, indicating multiple recruitment events. Protecting mixed gravel substrata could be a beneficial management measure to support the survival and recruitment of juvenile G. morhua, other substrata might be important at night given their diel migratory behaviour. Stereo-video cameras provide a useful non-destructive fisheries independent method to monitor species abundance and length measurements

Income differences in food consumption in the 1995 Australian national nutrition survey

Objective: To assess the relationships between an index of per capita income and the intake of a variety of individual foods as well as groups of food for men and women in different age groups. Design: Cross-sectional national survey of free-living men and women. Subjects: A sample of 5053 males and 5701 females aged 18 y and over who completed the Australian National Nutrition Survey 1995. Methods: Information about the frequency of consumption of 88 food items was obtained. On the basis of scores on the Food Frequency Questionnaire, regular and irregular consumers of single foods were identified. The relationships between regularity of consumption of individual foods and per capita income were analysed via contingency tables. Food variety scores were derived by assigning individual foods to conventional food group taxonomies, and then summing up the dichotomised intake scores for individual foods within each food group. Two-way ANOVA (income age group) were performed on the food variety scores for males and females, respectively. Results: Per capita income was extensively related to the reported consumption of individual foods and to total and food group variety indices. Generally, both men and women in low income households had less varied diets than those in higher-income households. However, several traditional foods were consumed less often by young high-income respondents, especially young women. Conclusions: Major income differentials in food variety occur in Australia but they are moderated by age and gender. Younger high-income women, in particular, appear to have rejected a number of traditional foods, possibly on the basis of health beliefs. The findings also suggest that data aggregation has marked effects on income and food consumption relationships.<br /

Birthing practices of traditional birth attendants in South Asia in the context of training programmes

Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) training has been an important component of public health policy interventions to improve maternal and child health in developing countries since the 1970s. More recently, since the 1990s, the TBA training strategy has been increasingly seen as irrelevant, ineffective or, on the whole, a failure due to evidence that the maternal mortality rate (MMR) in developing countries had not reduced. Although, worldwide data show that, by choice or out of necessity, 47 percent of births in the developing world are assisted by TBAs and/or family members, funding for TBA training has been reduced and moved to providing skilled birth attendants for all births. Any shift in policy needs to be supported by appropriate evidence on TBA roles in providing maternal and infant health care service and effectiveness of the training programmes. This article reviews literature on the characteristics and role of TBAs in South Asia with an emphasis on India. The aim was to assess the contribution of TBAs in providing maternal and infant health care service at different stages of pregnancy and after-delivery and birthing practices adopted in home births. The review of role revealed that apart from TBAs, there are various other people in the community also involved in making decisions about the welfare and health of the birthing mother and new born baby. However, TBAs have changing, localised but nonetheless significant roles in delivery, postnatal and infant care in India. Certain traditional birthing practices such as bathing babies immediately after birth, not weighing babies after birth and not feeding with colostrum are adopted in home births as well as health institutions in India. There is therefore a thin precarious balance between the application of biomedical and traditional knowledge. Customary rituals and perceptions essentially affect practices in home and institutional births and hence training of TBAs need to be implemented in conjunction with community awareness programmes

Mortality after admission for acute myocardial infarction in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in New South Wales, Australia: a multilevel data linkage study

Background - Heart disease is a leading cause of the gap in burden of disease between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. Our study investigated short- and long-term mortality after admission for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people admitted with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) to public hospitals in New South Wales, Australia, and examined the impact of the hospital of admission on outcomes. Methods - Admission records were linked to mortality records for 60047 patients aged 25–84 years admitted with a diagnosis of AMI between July 2001 and December 2008. Multilevel logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (AOR) for 30- and 365-day all-cause mortality. Results - Aboriginal patients admitted with an AMI were younger than non-Aboriginal patients, and more likely to be admitted to lower volume, remote hospitals without on-site angiography. Adjusting for age, sex, year and hospital, Aboriginal patients had a similar 30-day mortality risk to non-Aboriginal patients (AOR: 1.07; 95% CI 0.83-1.37) but a higher risk of dying within 365 days (AOR: 1.34; 95% CI 1.10-1.63). The latter difference did not persist after adjustment for comorbid conditions (AOR: 1.12; 95% CI 0.91-1.38). Patients admitted to more remote hospitals, those with lower patient volume and those without on-site angiography had increased risk of short and long-term mortality regardless of Aboriginal status. Conclusions - Improving access to larger hospitals and those with specialist cardiac facilities could improve outcomes following AMI for all patients. However, major efforts to boost primary and secondary prevention of AMI are required to reduce the mortality gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people