114 research outputs found

    Unusual Hand Radiographic Presentation in a Patient on Hemodialysis

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    We read with great interest the report of Alcelik et al. 1 (May 16 issue), about the case of upper extremity thrombosis caused by hand knitting. Knitting is also a popular Greek leisure activity, which gratify women of all ages, even when they suffer from serious health problems. Repetitive minor injuries caused from knitting may result in ......<br /&gt

    Resilience and regime shifts in a marine biodiversity hotspot

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    Complex natural systems, spanning from individuals and populations to ecosystems and socialecological systems, often exhibit abrupt reorganizations in response to changing stressors, known as regime shifts or critical transitions. Theory suggests that such systems feature folded stability landscapes with fluctuating resilience, fold-bifurcations, and alternate basins of attraction. However, the implementation of such features to elucidate response mechanisms in an empirical context is scarce, due to the lack of generic approaches to quantify resilience dynamics in individual natural systems. Here, we introduce an Integrated Resilience Assessment (IRA) framework: a three-step analytical process to assess resilience and construct stability landscapes of empirical systems. The proposed framework involves a multivariate analysis to estimate holistic system indicator variables, non-additive modelling to estimate alternate attractors, and a quantitative resilience assessment to scale stability landscapes. We implement this framework to investigate the temporal development of the Mediterranean marine communities in response to sea warming during 1985–2013, using fisheries landings data. Our analysis revealed a nonlinear tropicalisation of the Mediterranean Sea, expressed as abrupt shifts to regimes dominated by thermophilic species. The approach exemplified here for the Mediterranean Sea, revealing previously unknown resilience dynamics driven by climate forcing, can elucidate resilience and shifts in other complex systems

    Segmentation and fishery characteristics of the mixed-species multi-gear portuguese fleet

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    Fleet segmentation and knowledge of fishing fleet dynamics are essential to move from single species to fishery/fleet-based advice. The coastal mixed-species multi-gear Portuguese fleet comprises medium-sized (> 12m) vessels, using a diversity of passive gears, and is economically important. For hake (under a recovery plan) and monkfish (overexploited), it contributes > 50% to their total annuel landings. Commercial daily landings in 2005 from 271 vessels were analysed by region using non-hierarchical cluster analysis and multi-variate regression trees. The cluster analysis allowed the identification of regional fleet segments with a low mixture of species through-out the year. The multivariate regression trees were applied to clusters of vessels with a high mixture of species, to explain weekly landing profiles (species) by vessel technical characteristics, fishing license, and main landing port. The results showed a link between exploited species and geographic location, and in the north between vessel size and depth and an inshore/offshore range. Finally, from the analysis and for the most important species exploited by the Portuguese multi-gear fleet, it was possible to define two or three vessel groups that accounted for at least 50% of the landed value.NeoMAv "New Assessment Methodologies"; Portuguese General Directorate for Fisheries and Aquaculture (DGPA); Sarah Walmsley (Cefas); Pedro de Barros of the University of the Algarveinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    The Influence of the Spatial Scale on the Fishery Landings-SST Relationship

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    Possible effects of the spatial scale of analysis on the relationship between fishery landings and the water temperature in the Mediterranean Sea have been investigated using the FAO capture database (1970-2010). The analysis was performed by dividing species in three thermal affinity categories: cold, temperate and hot species. Results showed significant changes in fishery landings composition during the last four decades, in terms of the relative contribution of cold, temperate and hot species to landings; moreover, the presence of a strong influence of water warming in determining the landings temporal pattern has been confirmed. This relationship, however, resulted to be not homogenous across the tested spatial scales (entire Mediterranean basin, three main sub-basins, eight FAO areas). The best models (based on the Akaike Information Criterion), were the ones fitted at the finer spatial definition (i.e. the eight FAO areas) for all the three thermal affinity categories. The recorded relationship showed clear differences in terms of direction, depending on both areas and thermal affinity groups. Cold species showed a negative relationship with the increasing water temperature in all the FAO areas, being partially replaced by temperate ones, with the exception of the Adriatic and Black Sea (the coldest areas in the Mediterranean basin), where a moderate increase in the water temperature is still favoring the cold affinity group. This kind of results could be useful within the context of the management plans definition, within a context of climate changes.Possible effects of the spatial scale of analysis on the relationship between fishery landings and the water temperature in the Mediterranean Sea have been investigated using the FAO capture database (1970-2010). The analysis was performed by dividing species in three thermal affinity categories: cold, temperate and warm-water species. Results showed significant changes in fishery landings composition during the last four decades, in terms of the relative contribution of cold, temperate and warm-water species to landings; moreover, the presence of a strong influence of water warming in determining the landings temporal pattern has been confirmed. This relationship, however, resulted to be not homogenous across the tested spatial scales (entire Mediterranean basin, three main sub-basins, eight FAO areas). The best models (based on the Akaike Information Criterion), were the ones fitted at the finer spatial definition (i.e., the eight FAO areas) for all the three thermal affinity categories. The recorded relationship showed clear differences in terms of direction, depending on both areas and thermal affinity groups. Cold-water species showed a negative relationship with the increasing water temperature in all the FAO areas, being partially replaced by temperate-water ones, with the exception of the Adriatic and Black Sea (the coldest areas in the Mediterranean basin), where a moderate increase in the water temperature is still favoring the cold affinity group. This kind of results could be useful within the context of the management plans definition, within a context of climate changes

    The Contested Commons: The Failure of EU Fisheries Policy and Governance in the Mediterranean and the Crisis Enveloping the Small-Scale Fisheries of Malta

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    This paper highlights how multi-scalar interstitial policy failings of the EU fisheries policy can directly trigger policy gaps in fisheries management at the expense of artisanal communities, leading to further expansion opportunities for industrial fishing and triggering instability and marginalization of traditional fishing communities. In order to contextualize and demonstrate this complexity, we explore a detailed scenario of the Maltese waters to show how the development of a national policy portfolio post-EU accession has destabilized long-existing functional fishing governance mechanisms and now pose a direct challenge to the sustainable management of the marine socio-ecological system. Using a mixed-method approach to investigate the partially obscured social, economic and political dynamics which drive marine policy, we demonstrate how the coastal fisheries have become subject to multiple-use competition arising primarily from a burgeoning recreational fishing sector that has benefited from “access-enabling policies,” and is, to a great extent uninhibited by fish conservation regulations. Our findings demonstrate how a deeper understanding of the sociopolitical ramifications of policy processes is necessary to improve the governance and management of contested and congested open-access fisheries

    Are we ready to track climate-driven shifts in marine species across international boundaries? - A global survey of scientific bottom trawl data

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    Marine biota are redistributing at a rapid pace in response to climate change and shifting seascapes. While changes in fish populations and community structure threaten the sustainability of fisheries, our capacity to adapt by tracking and projecting marine species remains a challenge due to data discontinuities in biological observations, lack of data availability, and mismatch between data and real species distributions. To assess the extent of this challenge, we review the global status and accessibility of ongoing scientific bottom trawl surveys. In total, we gathered metadata for 283,925 samples from 95 surveys conducted regularly from 2001 to 2019. We identified that 59% of the metadata collected are not publicly available, highlighting that the availability of data is the most important challenge to assess species redistributions under global climate change. Given that the primary purpose of surveys is to provide independent data to inform stock assessment of commercially important populations, we further highlight that single surveys do not cover the full range of the main commercial demersal fish species. An average of 18 surveys is needed to cover at least 50% of species ranges, demonstrating the importance of combining multiple surveys to evaluate species range shifts. We assess the potential for combining surveys to track transboundary species redistributions and show that differences in sampling schemes and inconsistency in sampling can be overcome with spatio-temporal modeling to follow species density redistributions. In light of our global assessment, we establish a framework for improving the management and conservation of transboundary and migrating marine demersal species. We provide directions to improve data availability and encourage countries to share survey data, to assess species vulnerabilities, and to support management adaptation in a time of climate-driven ocean changes.En prensa6,86

    Identifying Recreational fisheries in the Mediterranean through Social Media

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    The impact of recreational fishing on fish stocks remains unknown, as this is inherently difficult to monitor, especially in areas such as the Mediterranean Sea where many species are targeted using a variety of fishing gears and techniques. The present study attempts to complement existing datasets andconstruct the profile of recreational fisheries in the EU-Mediterranean countries using videos publicly available on social media. A total of 1526 video records were selected, featuring the capture of 7799 fish specimens. The results show recreational fishing is multi-species in nature (26 species contributed to >80% % of the most numerically important species caught) and exhibits a spatially homogeneous pattern, with differences in species composition being mostly dependent on the fishing technique used rather than on the country. Such findings fill an important knowledge gap on recreational fishing activities, and the methodology provides an innovative approach to gather statistics on data-poor thematic areas that can potentially complement other datasets, such as the EU Data Collection Multi-Annual Programme
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