Forces of development are constantly affecting rural communities in the expanding world economic system. My research with the Garifuna fishermen of Hopkins, Belize, demonstrates the systematic articulations among national export-oriented economic development strategies, rural impoverishment, and environmental degradation. Within a political ecology framework, I document the impact of a shrimp trawling program on the subsistence fishermen of Hopkins, Belize, its impact on the effective marine environment of the subsistence fishermen, and their responses to it. The data gathered for this micro-level study are based on a total of six weeks of on-site, participant observer research in Hopkins on two separate trips. Taped interviews with approximately three-quarters of the active fishermen of Hopkins, along with interviews with other Hopkins residents and government fisheries officials, fishery production and export records from three sources, (the World Bank, the Belize Department of Statistics and the Belize Department of Fisheries) and my own observations provide the documentation of the trawlers impact on the marine environment and the subsistence fishermen of Hopkins. Much of the work of other geographers on Third World development issues shows that rural communities have suffered from political, economic, environmental, and cultural factors that threaten their way of life. My work reveals the current situation in Hopkins, Belize, as part of this process. / Master of Science

While investigating the gruesome death of a marine biologist, a by-the-book biracial detective and a jaded Tribal officer uncover a conspiracy surrounding a sea cucumber poaching ring on the reservation. Inspired by actual events.

This PhD dissertation represents an effort to understand individual behavior leading to decisions regarding natural resource use and compliance with conservation policy at the government and at the community levels through the analysis of specific cases in the Brazilian Amazon. I first analyze the case of smallholder land clearing along the Transamazon and BR-163 highways in the face of Brazilian Forest Code enforcement by the federal government. My hypothesis is that smallholder land clearing paths over time are affected by assessments of the probability of being caught violating the Forest Code. I develop a dynamic decision model that considers the potential benefits and costs accrued from land clearing through time by a representative smallholder and include her perception of the probability of Forest Code enforcement, unobserved to the researcher. I apply an endogenous switching regressions econometric model to data collected with a sample of 542 households in 2003 and 2013/14. I find that longer land tenure frontiers where there are opportunities for smallholders to transition to cattle grazing from agriculture deserve the attention of enforcement of land clearing laws and restrictions and that the use of the forest by a smallholder is a protective signal that must be considered and encouraged. My results suggest that alleged government efforts to enforce the Forest Code among smallholders in the sample region have been ineffective. The second case I analyze is that of fisher households that enforce community fishing agreements, known as accords, in the floodplains of the Amazon River surrounding the city of Santarém. My hypothesis is that individual households benefit from their own fishing accords enforcement effort through fishing time savings. A factor demand analysis applied to data collected with over 600 households reveals that statistically important drivers of labor demand and fuel include the level of dedication of a household and its history in implementing fishing accords, the landscape, the flood cycle, the distance to the main regional market and biomass. The average household fishing time savings from enforcing accords range between 59 and 36 eight-hour days for a six-month-period, an important argument for continuing the enterprise. / PHD / This PhD dissertation represents an effort to understand how individuals make decisions regarding natural resource use and compliance with conservation policy at the government and at the community levels through the analysis of specific cases in the Brazilian Amazon. I first analyze the case of smallholder land clearing along the Transamazon and BR-163 highways in the face of Brazilian Forest Code enforcement by the federal government. My hypothesis is that the decisions on the amount of land smallholders clear over time are affected by assessments of the probability of being caught violating the Forest Code. I develop a dynamic decision model that considers the potential benefits and costs accrued from land clearing through time by a representative smallholder and include her perception of the probability of Forest Code enforcement, unobserved to the researcher. I apply an endogenous switching regressions econometric model to data collected with a sample of 542 households in 2003 and 2013/14. I find that longer land tenure frontiers where there are opportunities for smallholders to transition to cattle grazing from agriculture deserve the attention of enforcement of land clearing laws and restrictions and that the use of the forest by a smallholder is a protective signal that must be considered and encouraged. My results suggest that alleged government efforts to enforce the Forest Code among smallholders in the sample region have been ineffective. The second case I analyze is that of fisher households that enforce community fishing agreements, known as accords, in the floodplains of the Amazon River surrounding the city of Santarém. My hypothesis is that individual households benefit from their own fishing accords enforcement effort through fishing time savings. A factor demand analysis applied to data collected with over 600 households reveals that statistically important drivers of labor demand and fuel include the level of dedication of a household and its history in implementing fishing accords, the landscape, the flood cycle, the distance to the main regional market and biomass. The average household fishing time savings from enforcing accords range between 59 and 36 eight-hour days for a six-month-period, an important argument for the continuation of the enterprise.

Das Sächsische Landesamt für Umwelt, Landwirtschaft und Geologie analysiert seit 1992 jährlich die Schadstoffbelastung der Fische in den sächsischen Fließgewässern. Im Herbst 2010 wurden jeweils 20 Fische aus der Zwickauer und Freiberger Mulde sowie 100 Fische aus der Elbe entnommen. Trotz des höheren Lebensalters der untersuchten Fische im Vergleich zu den Vorjahren waren die Schadstoffkonzentrationen nicht oder nur wenig erhöht. Zu Überschreitungen der zulässigen Höchstwerte kommt es nur in Ausnahmefällen - das betrifft besonders große und damit ältere Exemplare der Fischarten Rapfen, Zander, Barbe und Döbel. Bei älteren Rapfen gemessene Quecksilberkonzentrationen überschritten beispielsweise die zulässige Höchstmenge teilweise um das Doppelte. Ebenfalls untersuchte Lebern von 19 größeren Fischen wiesen in der Mehrzahl zu hohe Werte an Dichlordiphenyltrichlorethan und Hexachlorbenzol auf. Die Messergebnisse bei anderen chlorierten Kohlenwasserstoffen und Cadmium lagen dagegen wie schon in den zurückliegenden Jahren auf niedrigem Niveau.

Many management strategies are available to fishery managers to improve the sustainability of a fishery; however, it is not always clear how implemented strategies interact with the demographics of the exploited species. Management decisions are often made in order to maximize egg production and recruitment or to preserve specific size classes to increase reproductive output. Consequences of these strategies could include variation from a natural size structure of the population, exaggerated sexual dimorphism, skewed sex ratios, and suboptimal mating conditions. To examine the possibility of these consequences, I ran a series of deterministic models to simulate the fished and unfished population dynamics of two clawed lobster species, American lobster (Homarus americanus) and European lobster (Homarus gammarus), under a variety of management strategies. Protection of ovigerous females takes two forms in this model. The American fishery in the Gulf of Maine requires fishers to v-notch ovigerous females for up to four years of protection from fishing. The European fishery in southern Norway bans the harvest of ovigerous females, which translates to one year of protection. I compared the relative impact of the two levels of ovigerous female protections on factors that may be important for reproductive success: size structure, dimorphism, sex ratio, and egg production for both species. I then considered a case study on European lobster to evaluate the interaction of a no-take marine protected area with a slot limit to compare relative impacts to egg production, overall size structure and dimorphism. Results showed that American lobster females benefitted greatly from strict protections such as v-notching in terms of mean size increase and egg production, but mean size dimorphism and the overall proportion of females also increased with higher fishing pressure. European lobster females also benefitted from protections, but less dramatically than American lobsters, and with lower size dimorphism. In the case study, European lobsters benefited most from the implementation of a no-take marine protected area in combination with a slot limit to preserve the largest individuals of both sexes which improved overall egg production. By taking a simulation approach to evaluate these different management strategies on two closely related species of lobster, this thesis provides a basis for understanding how fishery decisions can achieve their sustainability goals in addition to quantifying some of the unintended impacts of management on parameters that may be important to overall reproductive success. / Master of Science / Fishery managers make decisions about a fishery based on the species' biology to optimize catch while also ensuring that enough individuals remain to keep the population alive for years to come. However, it is not always clear what types of unintended consequences these decisions may have. Management decisions are often made in order to maximize egg production, to keep small individuals alive until they can reproduce, or to preserve the large individuals that have high reproductive potential. Some consequences of these strategies could include a reduction in the number of large individuals with high fishing pressure, increased female body size compared to males, unequal numbers of females and males, and less optimal conditions for mating. To examine the possibility of these consequences, I ran a series of models to simulate the fished and unfished populations of two clawed lobster species, American lobster (Homarus americanus) and European lobster (Homarus gammarus), under a variety of management strategies. The American lobster fishery in the Gulf of Maine requires a practice known as v-notching, which protects egg-bearing females for up to four years. The Norwegian fishery for European lobster bans the harvest of egg-bearing females, which is protection that lasts for one year. I compared the impact of the two types of egg-bearing female protections on factors that may be important for reproductive success: abundance of large lobsters, unequal numbers of females and males, difference in size between females and males, and overall production of eggs for both species. I then considered a case study on European lobster to test how a no-take marine protected area and a slot limit (minimum and maximum harvest size limits) affected those same factors. Results showed that American lobster females benefited greatly from longer lasting protections by growing to larger sizes and producing more eggs, but the average size difference between females and males and the overall proportion of females also increased as fishing became more intense. European lobster females also benefitted from protections, but less dramatically than American lobsters, and with lower mean differences in size between females and males. In the case study, European lobsters benefitted most from the no-take marine protected area in combination with a slot limit to preserve the largest individuals of both sexes which improved overall egg production. Using a simulation makes it easier to tease apart the effects of these different management strategies on two closely related species of lobster. This thesis helps managers see how fishery decisions affect lobsters in both desired and unintended ways. With this information, managers can better improve the sustainability of the fishery through considering what a specific species needs to improve reproductive success.

Fishing pressure and environmental variability are two of the most impactful drivers of fish populations worldwide. It is critical to effective management to understand the intersection between the two and how each may affect fish population dynamics, especially for exploited nearshore species like rockfishes (Sebastes spp.). This is especially true as models indicate that global climate change will dramatically increase the frequency and severity of large-scale oceanographic perturbations. We were interested in whether we could detect changes in relative abundance of nearshore rockfishes relative to large-scale oceanographic events using a broad-scale index like the Multivariate Ocean Climate Indicator (MOCI), if detectable changes were different based on the life-stage of the fishes, and whether fishing pressure had an impact on the relationship between environmental variability and fish abundance. To investigate this, we calculated cross correlations between catch per unit effort (CPUE) of Blue Rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) and the MOCI. We used data collected by the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program (CCFRP) inside of marine protected areas (MPAs) and in paired reference sites to account for fishing effort. We also incorporated data collected before, during, and after the North Pacific Marine Heatwave (NPMHW) into cross correlation analyses. Based on these cross correlations, our findings suggest that oceanographic variability impact juvenile S. mystinus population dynamics with a two-year time lag. Our findings also suggest that fishing pressure impacts adult S. mystinus population dynamics more strongly than juveniles, but that temporal shifts in regional oceanographic conditions appear to alter this relationship. These findings may help to inform groundfish management along the West Coast of the United States and has broader implication for predicting species responses to the combined effects of fishing pressure and oceanographic variability. In addition to collecting necessary data on the status of fisheries populations, collaborative fisheries research programs engage stakeholders in data collection efforts, often with the benefit of increasing transparency about the status and management of natural resources. These programs are particularly important in marine systems, where management of recreational and commercial fisheries have historically been contentious. One such program is the CCFRP, which was designed in 2006 with two main goals: (1) to evaluate the efficacy of California’s newly implemented network of MPAs while providing information for stock assessments, and (2) to engage anglers in all aspects of the research, including study design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination of scientifically robust data. CCFRP began on the Central Coast of California and expanded in 2017 to include six partner institutions spanning the entire state. To date, over 2,000 volunteer anglers have participated in the program, with many anglers volunteering for multiple years. A previous study that surveyed CCFRP anglers from the Central Coast demonstrated the importance of long-term participation in changing angler opinions of MPAs. Here, we extend that research four years after the expansion of CCFRP by surveying the statewide pool of volunteer anglers to assess the degree that participation in CCFRP has influenced their perceptions of MPAs, fisheries management, and conservation. We received 259 completed surveys, equating to an 18.7% response rate. Participation in CCFRP resulted in a significant, positive impact on the attitudes of anglers across all regions towards MPAs in California. Anglers that participated in six or more CCFRP fishing trips had a more positive perception of MPAs than those that participated in fewer trips. Volunteer anglers across all regions perceived that they caught larger fishes, a higher abundance of fishes, and a greater diversity of species inside MPAs, consistent with the ecological findings of the program. These results highlight the benefits of involving community members in collaborative scientific research. Collaboration between researchers and the broader community increases transparency and trust between stakeholders, results in greater understanding of natural resources, and ultimately produces better management outcomes.

Neste trabalho, foi analisada a influência do conhecimento tradicional da pesca na formulação de políticas públicas do setor no Brasil partindo-se do caso da pesca artesanal no trecho mineiro do rio São Francisco. Para tanto, fez-se uma análise sociológica da organização social da pesca por meio de seus processos, suas formas de interações e suas sínteses, em uma perspectiva micro e macrossociológica, visando identificar como o processo de institucionalização da pesca considera o fazer artesanal - cultura, técnicas e práticas sociais - no escopo das políticas formuladas pelo setor. Em termos institucionais foram discriminados os conflitos e incongruências do projeto de modernização da pesca oriundos do Plano Nacional de Desenvolvimento de Sustentação da Aqüicultura e Pesca da SEAP/PR. Em termos sociais, no que concerne ao modo de vida da pesca artesanal, foram discriminadas as principais características sócio-ambientais que circundam e interagem com o pescador, observando a relação entre a lógica de mercantilização recente do uso das águas doces no Brasil e a evolução das condições de vida e trabalho da categoria entre 1999 e 2004, apontando para uma provável extinção da mesma. O estudo conclui a existência de grande distância entre o discurso e a prática das políticas anunciadas pela SEAP/PR em 2003 e como o projeto de modernização citado reverbera no modo de vida da pesca artesanal do alto-médio São Francisco. / In this work, the influence of the traditional knowledge of fishing on the formulation of public policies on this section in Brazil was analyzed by proceeding with the case of handmade fishing at the section of Minas Gerais of São Francisco river. For that, a sociological analysis of the social organization of the fishing was made by its processes, its forms of interactions, and its syntheses in a micro and macro-sociological perspective, by seeking to identify how the process of institutionalization of the fishing considers the handmade performance - culture, techniques and social practices - in the purpose of the formulated policies on such section. On institutional terms, the conflicts and the incongruities of the project of modernization of fishing derived from the national plan of development of sustenance of the acquiculture and the fishing of the SEAP/PR were discriminated. On social terms, concerning the way of life of handmade fishing, the main socio-environmental characteristics that surround and interact with the fisherman were distinguished by observing the relationship between the logic of the recent mercantilization of the use of fresh water in Brazil and the evolution of the life and work conditions of such category between 1999 and 2004, that points to a probable extinction of it. The study concluded the existence of great distance between the speech and the practice of the announced policies by the SEAP/PR in 2003, and how the cited project of modernization reverberates through the way of life of fishing of high-medium São Francisco.

In Brazil, economic data on fisheries are generally scarce, and difficult to interpret with respect to costs and fishery viability, thus making it difficult to practice consistent policy and industrial decision-making. This thesis aims to provide a cost-benefit analysis of seventeen commercial fishing fleets that operated during 2013-2014 in four port regions of the South Brazil Shelf: Angra dos Reis (AR), Santos and Guarujá (SG), Itajaí and Navegantes (IN) and Rio Grande (RG). The fleet types included the following: shrimp-trawlers, pair-bottom-trawlers, single-bottom-trawlers, bottom-gillnetters, octopus-pots, purse-seiners, surface-longliners and pole-and-line. Based on an unprecedented set of field survey data collected through interviews with vessel captains and owners, this study has the following goals: (1) to describe, calculate and compare the cost structure and gross profitability for all fleets; (2) to identify the factors (e.g., technical features and economic indicators) that determine fleet gross profit (from AR, SG and IN) using generalized additive models (GAMLSS); and (3) to assess the net profitability and viability of the fleets through the following three economic performance indicators: net profit margin (NPM), net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR). Additionally, the effects of fuel subsidy policies on profitability among South Brazil\'s fleets were evaluated. Generally, operational costs were higher than labor and fixed costs except for longliners, purse-seiners (from AR) and bottom-gillnetters (from RG), whereas labor costs were higher or had the same importance as operational costs. Fuel was the primary operational cost for all the fleets except pair-bottom-trawlers (SG) and purse-seiners (AR), for which vessel maintenance is the principal operational cost. Gross profitability varied significantly among the fleets and was clearly related to the following main factors: fuel consumption, vessel maintenance expense, ice costs, fish price and catch volume. Particularly for trawlers (from SG and IN) and all purse-seiners, technical features (i.e., vessel size and number of fishing trips, respectively) also explained profitability. Moreover, landing cost was a significant factor for those fleets\' profit. Economic performance indicators exhibited intra-fleet heterogeneity depending on region and revealed that 24% of the fleets were unviable (NPV less than zero), 23% were in fragile condition (IRRs and NPM lower than 11%), and 53% had achieved good economic returns whose IRR values exceeded 12% and whose NPM was > 10%. The worst economic performance was observed for single-bottom-trawlers (RG) and purse-seiners (SG) and the best for tuna-longliners (RG) and pair-bottom-trawlers (SG). Overall, subsidies were ineffective in increasing Rio Grande fleet profits and may be masking poor economic performance, primarily for single-bottom-trawlers (RG). Findings should guide private-sector decisions on how to protect the economic performance of the fleets, on fishery management measures (e.g., input controls, recovery plans for overfished stocks), and improve current governmental programs (e.g. the fuel subsidy program). / No Brasil, os dados econômicos sobre as pescarias são geralmente escassos, dificultando o conhecimento sobre os custos e a viabilidade da pesca, tornando difícil a prática de tomada de decisões políticas consistentes. Esta tese tem como objetivo fornecer uma análise de custo-benefício de dezessete frotas de pesca comercial que operaram durante 2013-2014 em quatro regiões da Plataforma Continental Sul do Brasil: Angra dos Reis (AR), Santos e Guarujá (SG), Itajaí e Navegantes (IN) e Rio Grande (RG). Os tipos de frotas analisadas foram: arrasto de fundo duplo (camarões), parelhas, arrasto de fundo simples, emalhe de fundo, pesca de potes (polvo), traineiras, espinhel de superfície e pesca com vara-e-isca-viva. Com base em um conjunto sem precedentes de dados de pesquisa de campo coletados através de entrevistas com mestres e proprietários de barcos pesqueiros, este estudo teve como objetivo: (1) descrever, calcular e comparar a estrutura de custos e a lucratividade bruta das frotas; (2) identificar os fatores (características técnicas e indicadores econômicos) que determinam o lucro bruto das frotas (de AR, SG e IN) usando modelos aditivos generalizados (GAMLSS); e (3) avaliar a lucratividade e a rentabilidade líquida, e a viabilidade das frotas por meio dos seguintes indicadores de desempenho econômico: margem de lucro líquido (NPM), valor presente líquido (NPV) e taxa de retorno interno (IRR). Além disso, os efeitos da política de subsídio ao combustível sobre a rentabilidade das frotas do sul do Brasil foram avaliados. Geralmente, os custos operacionais foram maiores que os custos de mão-de-obra e custos fixos, exceto para as frotas de espinhel de superfície, traineiras (de AR) e emalhe de fundo (de RG), onde os custos de mão-de-obra foram maiores ou tiveram a mesma importância que os custos operacionais. O combustível foi o principal custo operacional para todas as frotas, exceto para as parelhas (SG) e as traineiras (AR), para os quais a manutenção do barco foi o principal custo operacional. O lucro bruto variou significativamente entre as frotas e esteve relacionada aos seguintes fatores: consumo de combustível, despesas de manutenção de embarcações, custos com gelo, preço do peixe e volume de captura. Particularmente para as frotas de arrasto de fundo (de SG e IN), parelhas (SG) e traineira, as características técnicas (ou seja, tamanho da embarcação e número de viagens de pesca, respectivamente) também explicaram a lucratividade. Além disso, o custo com o desembarque foi um fator significativo para o lucro dessas frotas. Os indicadores de desempenho econômico apresentaram heterogeneidade intra-frota dependendo da região e revelaram que 24% das frotas estavam inviáveis (NPV inferior a zero), 23% estavam em vulnerabilidade (IRRs e NPM inferiores a 11%) e 53% alcançaram bons retornos econômicos cujos valores de IRR excederam 12% e o NPM foi > 10%. O pior desempenho econômico foi observado para as frotas de arrasto-simples de RG e para as traineiras de SG, e os melhores para os atuneiros (RG) e parelhas (SG). Em geral, os subsídios foram ineficazes no aumento dos lucros das frotas de Rio Grande e podem estar mascarando o baixo desempenho econômico, principalmente para a frota de arrasto-simples. Os resultados apresentados podem ser utilizados para orientar nas decisões do setor privado sobre como proteger o desempenho econômico das frotas, as medidas de manejo da pesca (por exemplo, controles de entrada, planos de manejo para recuperação dos estoques sobrepescados), e ainda melhorar os programas governamentais atuais (por exemplo, o programa de subsídio ao combustível).

Lam Fung Ki Selina. / "Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 1998-99, design report." / Includes bibliographical references (leave 46). / Acknowledgements / Foreword / Summary / Introduction / Fisherina / Project Summary / Conclusions / Background / Outline of Process / Case Studies (Summary) / Background / Client / Users Analysis / Site Selection / Physical Conditions / Location / Problem and Oppotunities / Project Brief / Site and Constraints / Space Program / Design Guidelines / The Design / Design Development / Final Design / Bibliography / Appendix / Case Studies / Interviews / Schedule of Accomodations / Technical Studies / Vanishing Maritime Heritage / Statistics / Site Photos / Chronology

Lau Hoi Leung Hollain. / "Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 2000-2001, design report." / On double leaves. / Includes bibliographical references. / Chapter 1.0 --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- The Three Elements / Chapter 2.0 --- Why designing Urban Waterfront in H.K / Chapter 2.1 --- The fascinating Harbour / Chapter 2.2 --- Performance of Urban Waterfronts in H.K. / Chapter 3.0 --- Visual Attributes of Waterfront / Chapter 3.1 --- Experience & Elements in Urban Waterfront Scenes / Chapter 3.2 --- Design Principles of Waterfront / Chapter 4.0 --- Site Selection / Chapter 4.1 --- Criteria / Chapter 4.2 --- Comparison of potential sites / Chapter 5.0 --- Site Analysis / Chapter 5.1 --- Background / Chapter 5.2 --- Topography / Chapter 5.3 --- Traffic / Chapter 5.4 --- Activity / Chapter 6.0 --- Interview with Experts / Chapter 6.1 --- "Prof. Jeff Cody, Dept of Architecture, CUHK" / Chapter 6.2 --- "Mr. Adrian Norman, Hassell Design Ltd." / Chapter 6.3 --- "Prof. Lam Kin Che, Dept of Geography, CUHK" / Chapter 7.0 --- Hypothesis / Chapter 7.1 --- Existing Conditions / Chapter 7.2 --- Future Conditions / Chapter 7.3 --- Project Brief / Chapter 7.4 --- Client & Value / Chapter 7.5 --- Users / Chapter 8.0 --- Design Programs / Chapter 8.1 --- Hawaker Market / Chapter 8.2 --- Contemporary Garden / Chapter 8.3 --- Fishing Zones / Chapter 8.4 --- Fishing Promotion Centre / Chapter 8.5 --- Food Stall / Chapter 9.0 --- Future State / Chapter 9.1 --- Mission Statement / Chapter 9.2 --- Goals / Chapter 1.0 --- Design Concepts / Chapter 1.1 --- Initial concepts / Chapter 2.0 --- Review 1 / Chapter 2.1 --- Comments / Chapter 3.0 --- Review 2 / Chapter 3.1 --- Design intention / Chapter 4.0 --- Development / Chapter 4.1 --- Development / Chapter 4.2 --- Codes and Regulation / Chapter 5.0 --- Review 3 / Chapter 5.1 --- Objective / Chapter 5.2 --- Learning / Chapter 6.0 --- Final Review / Chapter 6.1 --- Design Program / Chapter 6.2 --- Design Intention / Chapter 7.0 --- Special Studies / Chapter 7.1 --- Experiencing Movement on Water