Installation of fishing net tracking buoys in deep sea multiday tuna drift gillnetters at Chennai

The deep sea multiday tuna drift gillnetters face many risks while they engage in fishing. The cutting and stealing of nets by fishermen of other boats or damage of the nets by the ships is common. As the total length of a net when set is around 5 to 6 nautical miles (nmi) and the fishing is carried out during night, quite often the fishermen come to know about the loss only at the time of hauling the net. Another serious issue is the possibility of collision with an approaching ship as sometimes the fishing ground can be on the same track of a ship and fishermen notice it only when the ship is too near to them. Installation of fishing net tracking buoy can effectively avoid these risks and enable a hassle free fishing trip

Note on catfish landing with gravid females, male brooders and young ones at Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu

In Tamil Nadu catfish is landed mainly as a by-catch in trawlers, drift gill netters and the hook and line units. In 2018, the total catfish landing in Tamil Nadu was 4165 t of which almost 90 % was contributed by trawlers. On 22.8.2019, around 3000 kg of catfish, Arius maculatus was landed by a ring seiner at Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu. The catch was comprised of gravid females and incubating males of total length ranging from 350 mm to 370 mm. Along with the catch, eggs in various stages of development, juveniles with yolk and without yolk were also seen in good quantity in the boat. One gravid ovary contained 24 eggs in the right ovary and 29 in the left

Femtosecond carrier dynamics and saturable absorption in graphene suspensions

Nonlinear optical properties and carrier relaxation dynamics in graphene, suspended in three different solvents, are investigated using femtosecond (80 fs pulses) Z-scan and degenerate pumpprobe spectroscopy at 790 nm. The results demonstrate saturable absorption property of graphene with a nonlinear absorption coefficient, $beta$, of ~2 to 9x10^-8 cm/W. Two distinct time scales associated with the relaxation of photoexcited carriers, a fast one in the range of 130-330 fs (related to carrier-carrier scattering) followed by a slower one in 3.5-4.9 ps range (associated with carrier-phonon scattering) are observed.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, 2 table

Seasonal hand line fishery for yellowfin tuna at Colachel

In Tamil Nadu, the oceanic tunas like skipjack and yellowfin tuna are exploited mainly by multiday drift gill netters. However, in Colachel, Kanyakumari, there is a seasonal fishery targeting yellowfin tuna of medium size weighing around 30 kg, with hand lines that are operated from multiday trawlers. This is an additional income for both the fishermen and the trawl boat owners

Forced sexual experiences as risk factor for self-reported HIV infection among southern African lesbian and bisexual women

Even though women who have sex with women are usually understood to be at no or very low risk for HIV infection, we explored whether lesbian and bisexual women in a geographical area with high HIV prevalence (Southern Africa) get tested for HIV and whether, among those women who get tested, there are women who live with HIV/AIDS. The study was conducted in collaboration with community-based organizations in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Data were collected via written surveys of women who in the preceding year had had sex with a woman (18 years and older; N = 591). Most participating women identified as lesbian and black. Almost half of the women (47.2%) reported ever having had consensual heterosexual sex. Engagement in transactional sex (lifetime) was reported by 18.6% of all women. Forced sex by men or women was reported by 31.1% of all women. A large proportion of the women reported to ever have been tested for HIV (78.3%); number of lifetime female and male partners was independently associated with having been tested; women who had engaged in transactional sex with women only or with women and men were less likely to have been tested. Self-reported HIV prevalence among tested women who knew their serostatus was 9.6%. Besides age, the sole independent predictor of a positive serostatus was having experienced forced sex by men, by women, or by both men and women. Study findings indicate that despite the image of invulnerability, HIV/AIDS is a reality for lesbian and bisexual women in Southern Africa. Surprisingly, it is not sex with men per se, but rather forced sex that is the important risk factor for self-reported HIV infection among the participating women. HIV/AIDS policy should also address the needs of lesbian, bisexual and other women who have sex with women

Bumper catch of oil sardine Sardinella longiceps along Cuddalore coast

The oil sardine Sardinella longiceps constitutes the most important pelagic resource sustaining the marine fishery on the west coast of India. Two decades ago, the occurrence of this species along the east coast was considered sporadic and rare. In early eighties, there was report on the unusual landing of this species along Puducherry region. Over the years, there has been an increase in the landings of this species on the east coast especially along the Coromandal coast. In July 2008, there were reports in the local daily news papers that the oil sardine shoals were found to move towards the shore off Devanampattinam fishing village and small boys were also able to have easy access to the fish shoal who handpicked the sardines. Some fishes were also stranded and found dead on the beach. This occurrence is linked to upwelling phenomenon which brings the oxygen depleted cold water from the bottom of the sea due to churning by the water current

Heavy landing of tuna by multiday deep sea ringseiners at Cuddalore.

In Tamil Nadu, Cuddalore fishing harbour is known for ringseine operation and in February 2018, the fishermen introduced multiday deep sea ringseine for oceanic tunas and the result was encouraging ( Sivadas et al., 2018. Mar. Fish. Infor. Ser. T & E Ser. No.235). Now the fishermen from neighbouring areas like Pazhayar, Kalpakkam etc also started practising this fishing. In 2019 since July, there were good landings by this gear. A brief account of the landings during July and August is given below to highlight their role in exploitation of both inshore and oceanic tunas. In a boat the catch varied from 5 t to 30 t. Initially the catch was comprised by yellowfin tuna and skipjack tuna

Emerging ringseine fishery of oilsardine (Sardinella longiceps) off Puducherry coast

Puducherry Union Territory has 45 km of coast which extends from Kanagachettykulam in the north to Murthykuppam in the south and contributes around 5% to the total marine fish catch of the country. The average annual catch was 15,492 t during 2005 – 2009. One of the most significant development in the marine fisheries sector observed in recent years is the large scale introduction of ringseine boats for commercial exploitation of pelagic fish resources, which is also observed along the coast off Puducherry