Sturgeons belong to one of the oldest families of bony fish in existence, having their first appearance in the fossil records approximately 200 million years ago. Their natural habitats are found in the subtropical, temperate and sub-Arctic rivers, lakes and coastlines of Eurasia and North America. In the Romanian waters, five anadromous species of sturgeon, out of the total 25 species known by science, once migrated from the Black Sea into the Danube for spawning: beluga; Huso huso, Russian sturgeon; Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, stellate sturgeon; A. stellatus, ship sturgeon; A. nudiventris and the European Atlantic sturgeon; A. sturio (Knight, 2009). The NW Black Sea and Lower Danube River sturgeons, like many Acipenserids, were seriously affected by the rapid changes brought by human development. Being one of the finest caviar producers in the world they were intensively harvested for many centuries. Heavy uncontrolled fishing and destruction of habitat led to the collapse of most of the Acipenserids and the total disappearance of the European Atlantic sturgeon (A. sturio) from the NW Black Sea. Public attention was focused world wide on sturgeons after their listing in the IUCN Red List of Threatened species in 1996. In 1998, after evaluating their abundance in the wild, CITES also decided to strictly regulate the international trade in all Acipenserids. The paper aims to analyze and review conservation measures that were taken locally, nationally and internationally by humans and the effect they had on one of Europe’s only naturally reproducing sturgeon populations.

The financial crises and global change have caused setbacks to the improvements in many undeveloped countries. To be able to achieve the ‘Millennium developmental goals’ within 2015, it will require a higher effort. Sub-Saharan African countries show the slowest economic growth and have experienced the highest setbacks. Malawi is one of these countries and is struggling with a high share of poverty and poverty related issues. Trade is believed to be the most prominent tool to fight world poverty, as it will provide economic growth and employment. Cichlid fishes from Lake Malawi are popular ornamentals for hobby aquarist’s world wide, representing yearly turnover of 340 million US dollars. It is suggested that ornamental Malawi cichlids can be developed into an industry benefiting country and the local poor people. This can be achieved without pressure upon the lake biodiversity if the wild-collected fishes are used for breeding purpose and not for export. To be able to deliver a high quality fish, it will be necessary to establish proper handling strategies that will ensure fish health and welfare. Stress from handling procedures is known to have negative impact on fish growth, reproduction, immune function and survival. Anesthetics may be a useful tool during handling procedures of the fish, as it can reduce the perception of the stressor and thus prevent activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) axis. In this study the three commercial anesthetics; MS-222, Benzoak® and Aqui-S™ were evaluated for; (1) anesthetic efficacy, (2) safety margin, (3) prolonged exposure and (4) stress-reducing capacity on the Malawi cichlid, red zebra (Metriaclima estherae). The overall results show that concentration of 150 mg/L MS-222, 120 mg/L Benzoak® and 50 mg/L Aqui-S™ gave satisfying introduction and recovery time for anesthesia. Both MS-222 and Aqui-S™ gave high safety margins as no fish mortality was recorded after anesthetic exposure for 30 minutes. Benzoak® gave a lower safety margin as there was recorded 50 % mortality following 10 minutes exposure. High mortality rate and sign of insufficient blockage upon the red zebra fish, suggested that prolonged exposure to the tested sedative dosages did not benefit the fish. MS-222 exposure reduced the stress response while Benzoak® and Aqui-S™ seemed to self-induce an increase in plasma cortisol concentration after anesthetic exposure. In conclusion; for short-term treatment on red zebra fish, a concentration of 150 mg/L MS-222 is recommended.

Increasing exploitation of pelagic fish populations worldwide has often resulted in overfishing and the collapse of commercial fisheries and associated serious declines in many marine predator populations, including seabirds. These events highlight the competing demands for limited marine resources. Recent emphasis for the ecologically sustainable management of commercial fisheries has stimulated attempts to manage fisheries by incorporating knowledge of trophic interactions and ecosystem functioning, known as ecosystem-based fisheries management. Seabirds are often highly visible, wide-ranging upper trophic level consumers that aggregate in areas of increased ocean productivity and therefore be used as natural monitors of marine environmental conditions. Further, many seabirds commonly fed on commercially-exploited fish stocks (often targeting prey of similar size). In this study, the population dynamics of Australasian gannets (Morus serrator) breeding in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, is investigated and competition between gannets and commercial fisheries is determined. In addition, the potential use of seabird reproductive and population parameters as indicators of the abundance of commercially exploited fish stocks, and pelagic conditions generally, is assessed.