Use of ultrasonic telemetry to determine the area of bait influence and trapping area of American lobster,Homarus americanus,traps

Using ultrasonic telemetry, we measured the distance of attraction to a baited trap and then used this value to calculate the “area of bait influence”. This value, along with the mean daily home range for the same animals, was used to calculate the “trapping area” of an individual trap. Lobsters (n = 25) were tracked inside a large underwater mesocosm containing a single baited lobster trap. During the study, 14 of the 25 lobsters approached the trap from a mean (+SEM) distance of 11.0 ± 0.7 m. Using this distance as the radius of a circle, the resulting circular area of bait influence was 380 m². The movements of 18 lobsters were used to calculate a mean daily home range of 1002.4 ± 195.7 m². The radius of a circle with this area (17.8 m) was then combined with the mean distance of bait attraction to calculate the trapping area, defined as: the total area from which the catch is drawn (2604.0 m²; a circle with a radius of 28.8 m or 17.8 m + 11.0 m). A demonstration of the potential use of empirical data about lobster home ranges, trap dynamics and area of bait influence to improve our understanding of the relationship between the density of lobsters on the bottom and catch is included.     

Dissolved chromium in the St. Lawrence estuary

A study of dissolved chromium in the St. Lawrence estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence has been carried out. A chromium concentration of 0·7 μg l^?1 was found in the St. Lawrence River. In the turbidity maximum of the upper estuary, chromium is removed from solution onto fine-grained resuspended sediments and internally produced organic-rich floccules. A simple flux calculation shows that these processes remove ～50% of the total dissolved chromium input of the river. At salinities greater than 5‰ dissolved chromium mixes conservatively.     

Changes in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence ecosystem estimated by inverse modelling: Evidence of a fishery-induced regime shift?

Mass-balance models have been constructed using inverse methodology for the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence for the mid-1980s, the mid-1990s, and the early 2000s to describe ecosystem structure, trophic group interactions, and the effects of fishing and predation on the ecosystem for each time period. Our analyses indicate that the ecosystem structure shifted dramatically from one previously dominated by demersal (cod, redfish) and small-bodied forage (e.g., capelin, mackerel, herring, shrimp) species to one now dominated by small-bodied forage species. Overfishing removed a functional group in the late 1980s, large piscivorous fish (primarily cod and redfish), which has not recovered 14 years after the cessation of heavy fishing. This has left only marine mammals as top predators during the mid-1990s, and marine mammals and small Greenland halibut during the early 2000s. Predation by marine mammals on fish increased from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s while predation by large fish on fish decreased. Capelin and shrimp, the main prey in each period, showed an increase in biomass over the three periods. A switch in the main predators of capelin from cod to marine mammals occurred, while Greenland halibut progressively replaced cod as shrimp predators. Overfishing influenced community structure directly through preferential removal of larger-bodied fishes and indirectly through predation release because larger-bodied fishes exerted top-down control upon other community species or competed with other species for the same prey. Our modelling estimates showed that a change in predation structure or flows at the top of the trophic system led to changes in predation at all lower trophic levels in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence. These changes represent a case of fishery-induced regime shift.     

Characterisation of the recreational fishery for southern rock lobster,Jasus edwardsii,in Tasmania,Australia: Implications for management

Southern rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii) support significant commercial and recreational fisheries in Tasmania, Australia. Since the mid 1990s the number of persons holding recreational lobster licences increased by over 80%, with c. 15 500 persons licensed in 2002/03. Assessment of the recreational fishery has been undertaken periodically since 1996 using a telephone‐diary survey method. The fishery was concentrated off the south‐east and east coasts of Tasmania and characterised by strong seasonality in catch and effort, which peaked markedly early in the fishing year (November‐January). Although pots were the most popular fishing method, daily catch rates by divers were more than double those for pots. Divers selectively harvested larger lobsters than those taken by pots and more frequently attained the daily bag limit of 5 lobsters. The estimated recreational harvest increased significantly since 1996/97 and in 2002/03 effectively reached a management trigger level of 10% of the total allowable commercial catch, flagging a review of recreational management arrangements.     

低效用海评价指标体系构建研究——以浙江省普陀区填海用海为例

本文旨在针对当前海域节约集约利用的要求下,缺乏低效用海客观评价体系的现状。采用层次分析法和德尔菲专家打分法等技术,在DPSIR框架下,从指标选取、权重设立以及综合评价等方面构建低效用海评价指标体系,并在浙江省普陀区进行应用示范。结果显示,普陀区41个填海项目中,有17个项目评价等级为优,有4个评价等级为良好。等级为一般和较差的项目各10个,占评价项目48.7%。这表明普陀区填海项目中批而未填、填而未建或闲置用海情况较为明显。本研究在指标体系构建和实际应用方面具有创新性和先进性,对于低效用海的节约集约利用具有一定的实际意义和应用价值。