On losing and recovering fisheries and marine science data

Large sums are spent annually collecting and, increasingly, electronically encoding field data, making them widely accessible. Earlier data were recorded on paper, and archived at a few institutions, which eventually discard them. Data recovery and distribution is a valuable contribution to science, as it counters the ‘shifting baseline’ syndrome and ensures long-term returns on funds society invested in data gathering. Data recovery need not be expensive. We present the data recovery from the Guinean Trawling Survey, conducted in the early 1960s off West Africa, which cost 0.2% of initial survey costs. Research and graduate training institutions, as well as funding agencies should make digital data globally available as part of their deliverables

Re-estimation of small-scale fishery catches for U.S. flag-associated island areas in the western Pacific: the last 50 years

Nearshore fisheries in the tropical Pacific play an important role, both culturally and as a reliable source of food security, but often remain under-reported in statistics, leading to undervaluation of their importance to communities. We re-estimated nonpelagic catches for Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and summarize previous work for American Samoa for 1950−2002. For all islands combined, catches declined by 77%, contrasting with increasing trends indicated by reported data. For individual island entities, re-estima-tion suggested declines of 86%, 54%, and 79% for Guam, CNMI, and American Samoa, respectively. Except for Guam, reported data primarily represented commercial catches, and hence under-represented contributions by subsistence and recreational fisheries. Guam’s consistent use of creel surveys for data collection resulted in the most reliable reported catches for any of the islands considered. Our re-estimation makes the scale of under-reporting of total catches evident, and provides valuable baselines of likely historic patterns in fisheries catches

Towards Automotive Embedded Systems with Self-X Properties

With self-adaptation and self-organization new paradigms for the management of distributed systems have been introduced. By enhancing the automotive software system with self-X capabilities, e.g. self-healing, self-configuration and self-optimization, the complexity is handled while increasing the flexibility, scalability and dependability of these systems. In this chapter we present an approach for enhancing automotive systems with self-X properties. At first, we discuss the benefits of providing automotive software systems with self-management capabilities and outline concrete use cases. Afterwards, we will discuss requirements and challenges for realizing adaptive automotive embedded systems

Reconstruction of Domestic Marine Fisheries Catches for Oman (1950-2015)

Domestic marine fisheries in Oman are increasingly viewed as the eventual economic alternative to the soon to be depleted oil reserves. This has galvanized the Omani government to invest in the management of its marine living resources. This study aims to provide a better estimation of Oman's domestic marine fisheries catches that can be used to improve fisheries management in the country. Using the catch reconstruction approach, total domestic marine fisheries catches by Oman are estimated for the time period 1950-2015, including reported and previously unreported large-scale and small-scale commercial catches, subsistence, and recreational catches, as well as major discards. Catches from the Omani exclave, Musandam, are estimated separately, given this governorate’s geographical separation from the rest of Oman. Reconstructed total catches increased from around 64,000 t∙year-1 in the 1950s to over 200,000 t·year-1 in the 2000s, which are overall 1.2 times the landings reported by the FAO on behalf of Oman. Fish stocks need to be sustainably managed to allow long-term economic viability. This cannot be done without the improvement of fisheries statistical systems around the world, including in Oman

Ispravljanje neprijavljenih i nepotpunih ulova u morskom ribarstvu za područje Gaza pojasa: 1950-2010

Total marine fisheries catches were estimated for the Gaza Strip from 1950-2010 by reconstructing past catches and accounting comprehensively for all fisheries sectors and components. Landings data are reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) separately for the Gaza Strip since 1995 and represent the official records. These only cover the larger-scale commercial sector. Prior to 1995, FAO landings data for Gaza were reported as Israel’s landings data. Here, these miss-assigned landings were rectified by re-allocating these data to Gaza. Thus, the reported baseline (i.e., a portion of FAO landings data reported for Israel and those reported for Gaza) totalled 97,920 t over the 1950-2010 time period. In contrast, reconstructed total catches for Gaza were estimated at over 227,000 t, which translates to 2.3 times the reported baseline. The majority of unreported catches were from the small-scale commercial (i.e. artisanal) and noncommercial sector (i.e. subsistence) with artisanal catches representing 96.5% of the total smallscale catch.U ovom radu je procijenjen ukupni morski ulov u pojasu Gaze od 1950. do 2010. godine rekonstrukcijom prošlih ulova te sveobuhvatnim obračunom svih sektora i komponenti ribarstva. Podatke o ukupnom ulovu, koji ujedno predstavljaju službenu evidenciju, objavio je FAO odvojeno za Pojas Gaze započevši od 1995. godine. Ti podaci se odnose samo na komercijalni sektor. Prije 1995. godine FAO podaci za pojas Gaze bili su smatrani izvješćem o ukupnom ulovu Izraela. Ovim propustom dodijeljeni podaci o ukupnom ulovu su ispravljeni ponovnim dodjeljivanjem tih podataka za pojas Gaze. Prijavljeni početni ukupni ulov (tj. dio FAO podataka prijavljenih za Izrael i onima prijavljenim za Gazu) iznosio je 97.920 t tijekom razdoblja 1950.-2010. godine. Nasuprot tome, rekonstruirani ukupni ulov za Gazu je procijenjen na više od 227.000 tona, što iznosi 2,3 puta više od prehtodno prijavljenog početnog ulova. Većina neprijavljenog ulova dolazi iz komercijalnog priobalnog ribolova (tj. tradicionalnog ribolova), te iz nekomercijalnog sektora (tj. dopunskog ribolova) koji sa tradicionalnim ulovom predstavlja 96,5% od ukupnog ulova u priobalnom ribolovu

Fisheries catches for the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem since 1950

Marine fisheries catch data is presented on spatially allocated basis for the Exclusive Economic Zones of the member countries as well as the high seas for the period 1950-2008

Reconstruction of total marine fisheries catches for Germany in the North Sea (1950-2010)

We reconstructed marine fisheries catches for the Federal Republic of Germany within the North Sea (specifically ICES area IVb) from 1950-2010. ICES landings statistics are used as a reported baseline, and then adjusted using information from ICES stock assessment working group reports, national data, and expert knowledge to estimate unreported landings, recreational and subsistence catches and major discards. Brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) contribute the most to unreported landings and discards. Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and European plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) are also important fisheries for the period 1950-2010. The reconstructed total catch of 8.5 million t from 1950-2010 was approximately 63% higher than the baseline reported ICES landings of 5.2 million t. The reconstructed total catch of invertebrates is almost 4 million t, which is 2 times the ICES baseline catch which is just over 1.9 million t. The reconstructed catch for all finfish species is 4.6 million t and is 41% higher than the ICES baseline catch of 3.3 million t. These discrepancies are largely driven by discarded catches that are not accounted for in officially reported (ICES) data, which also form the globally reported data as presented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Our results demonstrate the importance of comprehensively accounting for and disclosing fisheries data to the public (including discarded catches), and effectively monitoring Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) catches

Reconstructed Russian Fisheries Catches in the Barents Sea: 1950-2014

The management of marine living resources that straddle country borders has historically been a challenge, particularly in cases where political tensions are high. The jointly managed fisheries resources in the Barents Sea are a notable exception, wherein the Russian Federation (formerly Soviet Union) and Norway have relatively successfully managed fish stocks together since the 1950s, including during the high tensions of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Using ICES statistics as reported baseline landings, the total catch of the region by the Russian fisheries was reconstructed for the period 1950-2014. Total catch was divided into reported landings, unreported landings, and discards, and assigned to four sectors: industrial, artisanal, recreational, and subsistence. Unreported landings and discards between 1950 and 2014 accounted for ~12 and 55% of the total catch, respectively, with discards being substantial in the early decades. A majority of the catch was caught using pelagic and bottom trawls, contributing to the high rate of discards. Both discards and landings reached their peak in the 1970s, after which overexploitation contributed to numerous stock declines. Stocks recovered in the 1990s following adoption of legislation and gear regulations limiting discards as part of a joint effort by Norway and Russia to more sustainably manage stocks. The trend of declining Russian Barents Sea catches after the 1980s matches global trends of declining catch, although the present case appears to be mainly due to more successful management interventions. It is assumed that small-scale fisheries removals are minor in the region, but further research to refine estimates of small-scale fishing can improve upon the present study. While this study highlights historical declines in catch due to overexploitation, it does not explore fluctuations in catch caused by environmental variation. In the rapidly warming Arctic region it is of vital importance to understand how stocks may be further affected by climate change in addition to fishing pressure