Pillow Pets Book $13.99!

by Charlene on 12/01/2011

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Here are two great deals on Pillow Pets!

Get a 17? Dragon Pillow Pet for $13.99 and it also comes with a little book

or Get the Lavendar Pillow pet for $13.99 and that also comes with a book

The shipping is free with a $25 order.

?

Source: http://myfrugaladventures.com/2011/12/pillow-pets-book-13-99/

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Gulf harvesters offered more money for BP damage (AP)

NEW ORLEANS ? Gulf of Mexico shrimpers and crabbers, who've reported diminished catches since the BP oil spill, are being offered a more generous settlement package because of lingering uncertainties over seafood.

Kenneth Feinberg is overseeing payments from a $20 billion compensation fund for victims of the 2010 oil spill. On Tuesday he said he would offer shrimpers and crabbers four times their documented losses in 2010 to settle their claims against BP.

On its website, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility said it recognized "the ongoing uncertainty regarding the state of the commercial harvesting of shrimp and crabs in the Gulf and the uncertainty of any ongoing impact from the spill."

But the heftier offer is unlikely to assuage many shrimpers and crab harvesters who say the claims process has been unfair.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill_claims

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India may open multi-brand retail sector 'within weeks': finmin source (Reuters)

NEW DELHI (Reuters) ? The cabinet will decide within weeks whether to allow retailers, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc, to operate in the country with a majority stake, a source in the finance ministry said on Wednesday.

The finance ministry has thrown its weight behind a proposal to open the so-called multi-brand retail sector to foreign direct investors, a policy change that has been in the works for years but has snagged on opposition from smaller retailers.

"A decision on the issue is only a matter of weeks (away)," the source told Reuters, adding, the cabinet may take a decision as early as next week.

India currently allows 51 percent foreign investment in single-brand retailers and 100 percent for wholesale operations, a policy that the world's top retailer Wal-Mart and Carrefour among others have lobbied to change for years.

In the backdrop of a slowing economy and the government struggling to shake off an image of policy paralysis, momentum to open up the multi-brand sector appears to have picked up.

Another government source told Reuters last week that a decision looked imminent.

However, a senior government adviser on Sunday said the policy still lacked political consensus.

Small shop owners that account for more than 90 percent of India's $450 billion retail sector oppose the entry of foreign players, fearing that they will be put out of business.

A group of senior civil servants approved the proposal to open the sector to foreign players in July, although it recommended strict local sourcing requirements and minimum investment levels.

The finance ministry was in favour of such riders, the source said.

An executive of British retail giant Tesco Plc told Reuters the company plans to build on its existing tie-up with Tata Group to expand if foreign operators are allowed to invest in multi-brand retail.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar; editing by Malini Menon)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/india_nm/india606824

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Bahrain report: excessive force in crackdowns

A Bahraini woman walks down a narrow street in the western Shiite village of Malkiya, Bahrain, on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, painted and repainted with anti-government graffiti and hung with religious banners for the Islamic month of Muharram, a time of Shiite mourning for Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's founding prophet Mohamed. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

A Bahraini woman walks down a narrow street in the western Shiite village of Malkiya, Bahrain, on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, painted and repainted with anti-government graffiti and hung with religious banners for the Islamic month of Muharram, a time of Shiite mourning for Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's founding prophet Mohamed. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

A Bahraini boy plays in a narrow street in the western Shiite village of Malkiya, Bahrain, on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, painted with graffiti urging political prisoners to be freed. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

A Bahraini child peers from a home in the western Shiite village of Malkiya, Bahrain, on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. Graffiti on the side of the building reads: "For sure, victory is coming." (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

(AP) ? In a stinging blow to Bahrain's leaders, a special commission that investigated the kingdom's unrest charged Wednesday that authorities used torture, excessive force and fast-track justice in crackdowns on the largest Arab Spring uprising in the Gulf.

The head of the panel, Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni, also said there was no evidence of Iranian links to Bahrain's Shiite-led protests. That was a clear rebuke Gulf leaders, who accuse Tehran of playing a role in the 10-month-old showdown in the Western-allied kingdom.

The 500-page study ? authorized by Bahrain's Sunni rulers in a bid to ease tensions ? marks the most comprehensive document on security force actions during any of the revolts that have flared across the Arab world this year. It also displayed a stunning image of a powerful Arab monarch facing a harsh public reckoning, as King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa listened to a bullet-point summary of the report's conclusions.

Bassiouni's summary ? presented at a royal palace news conference attended by Bahrain's king and crown prince ? read like a checklist of complaints by rights groups since February: Middle-of-the-night raids to "create fear," purges from workplaces and universities, jail house abuses including electric shocks and beatings and destruction of Shiite mosques that "gave the impression of collective punishment."

At least 35 people have been killed in violence related to the uprising, including several members of the security forces.

It appeared unlikely that even the strong criticism would satisfy opposition forces, who accused the Sunni monarchy of using all methods at its disposal to avoid sharing power with the nation's Shiite majority. Just hours before the long-awaited report was released, security forces used tear gas and stun grenades in the latest of nearly daily clashes on the strategic island, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

Still, the inquest was seen as a bold step in a region of monarchs and sheiks who rarely acknowledge shortcomings or face uncomfortable criticism in public.

Bahrain's government promised "no immunity" for anyone suspected of abuses and said it would propose creating a permanent human rights commission.

"All those who have broken the law or ignored lawful orders and instructions will be held accountable," said a government statement, adding that the report notes that the "systematic practice of mistreatment" ended shortly after martial law was repealed on June 1.

Bahrain's Shiites comprise about 70 percent of the island nation's 525,000 citizens. They have complained of widespread discrimination such as being blocked from top government or military posts. The monarchy has offered numerous concessions ? including more powers to the parliament ? yet have refused to bow to protest demands to surrender its command of all top positions and main policies.

"A number of detainees were tortured ... which proved there was a deliberate practice by some," said Bassiouni, whose report covered the period between Feb. 14 and March 30.

The report also was highly critical of a special security court created under martial law that "overtook the national system of justice" and issued harsh sentences ? including life in prison and death row rulings ? that "denied most defendants elementary fair trial guarantees."

Bahrain has abolished the security court and some of its decisions are under review by civilian magistrates. Bassiouni urged Bahrain to review all the security court verdicts and drop charges against all those accused of nonviolent acts such as joining or supporting the protests.

"You found real shortcomings from some government institutions," Bahrain's king told Bassiouni, an Egyptian-born professor of international criminal law and a former member of U.N. human rights panels.

But the king lashed back at finding that Iran did not influence the uprising, saying his government could not provide clear evidence but insisting Tehran's role was clear to "all who have eyes and ears."

He blamed Arabic-language outlets in Iran's state media of "inciting our population to engage in acts of violence, sabotage and insurrection. Iran's propaganda fueled the flames of sectarian strife ? an intolerable interference in our internal affairs."

Although Bahrain's bloodshed and chaos is small in comparison with the huge upheavals across the Arab world, the island's conflict resonates from Tehran to Washington.

Bahrain is a critical U.S. ally and Washington has taken a cautious line because of what's at stake: urging Bahrain's leaders to open more dialogue with the opposition, but avoiding too much public pressure.

Some U.S. lawmakers have shown signs of growing impatience with Bahrain's rulers. A $53 million arms deal with Bahrain is on hold until the upcoming report is examined.

For Gulf leaders, led by powerful Saudi Arabia, Bahrain is seen as a firewall to keep pro-reform protests from spreading further across the region. Gulf rulers have rallied behind the kingdom's embattled monarchy and sent in military reinforcements during the height of the crackdowns and Saudi-led units still remain.

Shiite-led protesters began occupying a square in the capital Manama in February ? just days after crowds in Cairo's Tahrir Square celebrated the downfall of Hosni Mubarak.

Weeks later, security forces stormed Manama's Pearl Square, tore down the landmark six-pronged monument at its center and imposed martial law. Hundreds of activists, political leaders and Shiite professionals such as lawyers, doctors, nurses and athletes were jailed and tried on anti-state crimes behind closed doors in a special security court that was set up during emergency rule.

On Tuesday, a group of Bahrain rights groups issued their own report on the unrest, accusing authorities of "systematic" abuses and "unceasing human rights violations."

___

Online: http://files.bici.org.bh/BICIreportEN.pdf

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-23-ML-Bahrain/id-5589fd4081ac4740968c58d2272c33fe

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CA-CANADA Summary (Reuters)

Canada bans exports aiding Iranian energy sector

OTTAWA (Reuters) ? Canada will immediately ban the export to Iran of all goods used in the petrochemical, oil and gas industry, as part of an international sanctions package, the government said on Monday. Canada, the United States and Britain are limiting contacts with Tehran over concerns about Iran's nuclear program.

Ontario judge upholds Occupy Toronto evictions

TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian judge upheld an order to evict protesters camped in a downtown Toronto park on Monday, giving the Occupy Toronto movement until midnight to vacate the park it has held for more than a month. Ontario Superior Court Judge David Brown ruled the eviction order - issued by the city last Tuesday and challenged in court by the protesters - did not violate the demonstrators' freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Canada oil sector must keep cleaning up act: Prentice

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - The U.S.-imposed delay of TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL oil pipeline shows Canada's energy industry cannot relax efforts to improve its environmental record, a former top minister in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government said on Monday. The U.S. move has also helped build consensus that the oil industry must lessen its near-total export reliance on the U.S. market, said Jim Prentice, who left the Conservative government last year to become vice-chairman of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Insight: Lessons for U.S. from Canada's "basket case" moment

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Finance officials bit their nails and nervously watched the clock. There were 30 minutes left in a bond auction aimed at funding the deficit and there was not a single bid. Sounds like today's Italy or Greece?

Analysis: Ontario deficit targets at risk as outlook dims

TORONTO (Reuters) - A worsening economy will hurt Ontario's chances of meeting already long-term plans to balance its budget as it prepares for a fiscal update on Wednesday. The government has said its fall economic statement will show a C$16 billion ($15.5 billion) deficit for 2011-12, but warned that revenue projections and growth targets will fall to reflect recent private sector downgrades.

Alberta lowers estimate for budget deficit

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - The Canadian province of Alberta, home to much of the country's oil production, forecast on Monday that its budget deficit for the current year will be lower than first expected due to strong sales of oil exploration lands but higher than its first-quarter estimate. In its second-quarter update on the budget, the province forecast it will post a $3.1 billion deficit for the 2011-12 fiscal year, down $341 million from the estimate in its budget documents, but well above the $1.3 billion deficit it projected in its first-quarter update.

No alternative to F-35 fighter jet, US, Canada say

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (Reuters) - Defense chiefs from the United States and Canada said on Friday that budgetary pressures would not derail development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, saying there was no real alternative to what has become the Pentagon's costliest weapons program. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said flatly he was confident Congress would approve funding for the F-35, which is facing fresh scrutiny for possible cuts as lawmakers weigh how to scale back the U.S. deficit.

Inflation eases but rate cut seen less likely

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's annual inflation rate moderated in October from a near three-year high in September but was still higher than expected, scaling back market bets for a central bank interest rate cut. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.9 percent in October from a year earlier, easing from 3.2 percent in September as gasoline prices rose at a slower year-on-year pace, Statistics Canada said on Friday.

Canada's Asian oil push not a slap to U.S.: minister

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada is looking to diversify the market for oil sands crude by courting buyers in Asia, and is not trying to punish the United States for delaying TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline to Texas, the country's natural resources minister said on Friday. Ottawa officials including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver have spent the past few weeks traveling to Asia, partly to sell China and other countries on the idea of buying oil from Canada.

Canada, Mexico defeat USA in WTO meat ruling

GENEVA (Reuters) - Canada and Mexico won a trade case against a U.S. law on meat labeling at the World Trade Organization on Friday. A WTO dispute panel agreed with their complaint that U.S. mandatory labeling laws were too stringent, giving U.S. cattle and hog sales an unfair advantage over imports from Mexico and Canada.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111121/wl_canada_nm/canada_summary

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Police: Fake doc injected cement in woman's rear (AP)

MIAMI ? A woman who wanted to work at a nightclub started searching for someone who could perform plastic surgery at a cheap price to give her a curvier body. Police say what she found was a woman posing as a doctor who filled her buttocks with cement, mineral oil and flat-tire sealant.

The suspect ? who police say was born a man and identifies as a woman ? apparently performed the surgery on herself, and investigators say she may have victimized others. Oneal Ron Morris, 30, was arrested Friday after a year on the lam and has been charged with practicing medicine without a license with serious bodily injury.

Police photos show Morris as a small-framed woman with bee-stung pouty lips, arched eyebrows, oversized hoop earrings ? and a large backside. She was released from jail on bond. A phone listing for Morris could not be found, and it's unclear if she has an attorney.

Miami Gardens Police Sgt. Bill Bamford said Sunday that Morris bounced from house to house for a year, driving a black Mercedes and staying out of investigators' sight "like a ghost." An officer drove by one of those possible houses nearly every day on his way to work and saw the car outside on Friday, and he arrested Morris soon after.

The victim, who is not being named due to medical privacy laws, paid $700 for a series of injections in May 2010. She was referred to Morris by a friend.

Morris injected some type of tube in several sites around her bottom, pumping it full of a toxic concoction. Morris reassured the woman when the pain became too intense, police said.

Bamford said Morris told the woman, "`Oh don't worry, you'll be fine. We just keep injecting you with the stuff and it all works itself out.'"

Bamford said the victim was reluctant to come forward. She quickly went to two South Florida hospitals due to severe abdominal pain and infected sores on her buttocks accompanied by flu-like symptoms. But she left each time, too embarrassed to tell doctors what she'd done.

Her mother eventually took her to a hospital on Florida's west coast, where alarmed doctors pressed her for information. They alerted the Department of Health.

"The doctors knew no licensed physician in his right mind would ever do this," Bamford said.

The victim is still recovering from the surgery and says it's too painful to work. She also has racked up numerous medical bills.

Authorities believe there are other victims who may be too embarrassed to come forward.

"(Morris) was readily introduced to our victim as someone who could help improve her shape, so we believe (she's) done this to other people," Bamford said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111120/ap_on_re_us/us_botched_buttocks_surgery

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Satellite data can help protect bluefin tuna

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 21-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Berta Duane
berta.duane@ec.europa.eu
39-033-278-9743
European Commission Joint Research Centre

A new model developed by scientists of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) allows the potential presence of bluefin tuna to be tracked through daily updated maps, helping to protect endangered stocks and fight illegal fishing. The model, based on satellite remote sensing data, provides for the first time an overall view of the preferred bluefin tuna habitats in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as their changes over time. Satellite-based habitat mapping can help identify more precisely areas to be inspected or to be closed for fisheries and it can also help refine estimates of fish stocks, thus contributing to a more effective fisheries management. European Commissioner for Research and Innovation, Mire Geoghegan-Quinn, said: "This model will help to ensure sustainable management of bluefin tuna, actively contributing to two of the most pressing challenges for the future: food security and protection of the environment. Another good example of how science and research provide support to European Union policies."

European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, said "Responsible fisheries management decisions that ensure the sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources and the availability of fish for future generations worldwide rely on good science. New findings, like the JRC's new model, will help us greatly in our efforts to protect bluefin tuna and fight illegal fishing practices."

The JRC habitat model allows the creation of near real-time maps of feeding and spawning potential bluefin habitats in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as habitat maps over a decade. The novelty of this model is the use of satellite data on the concentration of chlorophyll on the sea surface, as well as temperature, to track specific oceanographic features, which play a key role on the fish distribution.

The results achieved through the model clearly highlighted that bluefin tuna feeding and spawning is concentrated in some recurrent locations. Areas most frequently chosen for nutrition are on the northern side of the Mediterranean. Reproduction starts in May in the eastern part of the Mediterranean and ends in July in the western part.

However, the results also displayed a strong seasonality in habitat size and locations, as well as high year-to-year variations for the potential spawning habitat depending on regional weather conditions. This variability is key to evaluating the pertinence of Marine Protected Areas (or sensitive areas) for this species.

Bluefin tuna is a commercial fish of high market value which has been strongly overexploited for 15 years, especially in the Mediterranean Sea. The largest stock of adults which reproduce in the Mediterranean Sea is now at its lowest on record, around 40% of late 1950s' level.

In the past years the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) has set lower quotas, established a restricted fishing period and recommended measures to enforce fisheries control. However, there is a need to increase the knowledge about spawning grounds for exploring additional management measures.

The implementation of a habitat-guided management could help identify spawning areas to be partially closed to fishing, thus protecting the spawners and ensuring adequate repopulation. Moreover, by restricting authorised fishing areas, control operations can be better targeted to fight illegal fishing, which is estimated to account for more than one-third of total catches in recent years.

The JRC habitat model can be adapted to other species of commercial interest. Potential habitat maps of fish at basin scale could help to produce more reliable assessments of fish stocks and can contribute to the planning of more efficient and sustainable use of limited maritime space.

###

Background

About the JRC

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's in-house science service. Its mission is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of European Union policies. The JRC serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national.

The JRC provides tools, services and advice in support of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Activities include scientific advice to the Commission's Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), the collection of fisheries data reported by EU Member States and the development of tools to support fisheries enforcement, such as the Vessel Detection System (VDS) and forensic genetics methods to detect the origin of captured or farmed fish and fish products.

The JRC habitat model for bluefin tuna

Two main behaviours are recognised in most fish: feeding and spawning. The corresponding habitats are generally separated for bluefin tuna as they correspond to distinct biological requirements and it avoids that the top predator's prey feeds on the top predator's larvae. The JRC bluefin tuna habitat model uses satellite data of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and surface chlorophyll content (CHL) from MODIS-Aqua sensor (NASA) to compute daily habitats since July 2002.

The feeding habitat was mainly traced by horizontal changes of surface chlorophyll content created by currents, while the spawning habitat was mostly inferred from the heating of surface waters. Generally, higher CHL contents were found to be preferred for the feeding habitat (0.11-0.34 vs 0.08-0.15 mg/m3) and a minimum SST value of 19 degrees was found to be preferred for the spawning habitat. Both habitats were defined by the presence of relevant oceanographic features and are therefore potential and functionally-linked habitats, as opposite to effective habitats which are always difficult to produce for marine animals, especially highly migratory ones such as tunas.

The daily maps of bluefin tuna potential habitats were calibrated and validated with geo-located observations from scientific surveys or fisheries operations. Monthly, seasonal and annual maps of potential feeding and spawning habitat of bluefin tuna were then computed from daily maps since July 2002.

The JRC habitat model is described in details in the following scientific publications:

Druon J-N, Fromentin J-M, Aulanier F, Heikkonen J (Vol. 439: 223/240, 2011, doi: 10.3354/meps09321). Potential feeding and spawning habitats of Atlantic bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series.

The implementation of a habitat-guided management is explored here: publication Druon J-N (2010) Habitat Mapping of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Derived from Satellite Data: Its Potential as a Tool for the Sustainable Management of Fisheries. Marine Policy; 34(2):293-297. Open access at: http://www.int-res.com/articles/meps_oa/m439p223.pdf

For further information: http://ipsc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/index.php/Fishreg/288/0/


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 21-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Berta Duane
berta.duane@ec.europa.eu
39-033-278-9743
European Commission Joint Research Centre

A new model developed by scientists of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) allows the potential presence of bluefin tuna to be tracked through daily updated maps, helping to protect endangered stocks and fight illegal fishing. The model, based on satellite remote sensing data, provides for the first time an overall view of the preferred bluefin tuna habitats in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as their changes over time. Satellite-based habitat mapping can help identify more precisely areas to be inspected or to be closed for fisheries and it can also help refine estimates of fish stocks, thus contributing to a more effective fisheries management. European Commissioner for Research and Innovation, Mire Geoghegan-Quinn, said: "This model will help to ensure sustainable management of bluefin tuna, actively contributing to two of the most pressing challenges for the future: food security and protection of the environment. Another good example of how science and research provide support to European Union policies."

European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, said "Responsible fisheries management decisions that ensure the sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources and the availability of fish for future generations worldwide rely on good science. New findings, like the JRC's new model, will help us greatly in our efforts to protect bluefin tuna and fight illegal fishing practices."

The JRC habitat model allows the creation of near real-time maps of feeding and spawning potential bluefin habitats in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as habitat maps over a decade. The novelty of this model is the use of satellite data on the concentration of chlorophyll on the sea surface, as well as temperature, to track specific oceanographic features, which play a key role on the fish distribution.

The results achieved through the model clearly highlighted that bluefin tuna feeding and spawning is concentrated in some recurrent locations. Areas most frequently chosen for nutrition are on the northern side of the Mediterranean. Reproduction starts in May in the eastern part of the Mediterranean and ends in July in the western part.

However, the results also displayed a strong seasonality in habitat size and locations, as well as high year-to-year variations for the potential spawning habitat depending on regional weather conditions. This variability is key to evaluating the pertinence of Marine Protected Areas (or sensitive areas) for this species.

Bluefin tuna is a commercial fish of high market value which has been strongly overexploited for 15 years, especially in the Mediterranean Sea. The largest stock of adults which reproduce in the Mediterranean Sea is now at its lowest on record, around 40% of late 1950s' level.

In the past years the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) has set lower quotas, established a restricted fishing period and recommended measures to enforce fisheries control. However, there is a need to increase the knowledge about spawning grounds for exploring additional management measures.

The implementation of a habitat-guided management could help identify spawning areas to be partially closed to fishing, thus protecting the spawners and ensuring adequate repopulation. Moreover, by restricting authorised fishing areas, control operations can be better targeted to fight illegal fishing, which is estimated to account for more than one-third of total catches in recent years.

The JRC habitat model can be adapted to other species of commercial interest. Potential habitat maps of fish at basin scale could help to produce more reliable assessments of fish stocks and can contribute to the planning of more efficient and sustainable use of limited maritime space.

###

Background

About the JRC

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's in-house science service. Its mission is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of European Union policies. The JRC serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national.

The JRC provides tools, services and advice in support of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Activities include scientific advice to the Commission's Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), the collection of fisheries data reported by EU Member States and the development of tools to support fisheries enforcement, such as the Vessel Detection System (VDS) and forensic genetics methods to detect the origin of captured or farmed fish and fish products.

The JRC habitat model for bluefin tuna

Two main behaviours are recognised in most fish: feeding and spawning. The corresponding habitats are generally separated for bluefin tuna as they correspond to distinct biological requirements and it avoids that the top predator's prey feeds on the top predator's larvae. The JRC bluefin tuna habitat model uses satellite data of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and surface chlorophyll content (CHL) from MODIS-Aqua sensor (NASA) to compute daily habitats since July 2002.

The feeding habitat was mainly traced by horizontal changes of surface chlorophyll content created by currents, while the spawning habitat was mostly inferred from the heating of surface waters. Generally, higher CHL contents were found to be preferred for the feeding habitat (0.11-0.34 vs 0.08-0.15 mg/m3) and a minimum SST value of 19 degrees was found to be preferred for the spawning habitat. Both habitats were defined by the presence of relevant oceanographic features and are therefore potential and functionally-linked habitats, as opposite to effective habitats which are always difficult to produce for marine animals, especially highly migratory ones such as tunas.

The daily maps of bluefin tuna potential habitats were calibrated and validated with geo-located observations from scientific surveys or fisheries operations. Monthly, seasonal and annual maps of potential feeding and spawning habitat of bluefin tuna were then computed from daily maps since July 2002.

The JRC habitat model is described in details in the following scientific publications:

Druon J-N, Fromentin J-M, Aulanier F, Heikkonen J (Vol. 439: 223/240, 2011, doi: 10.3354/meps09321). Potential feeding and spawning habitats of Atlantic bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series.

The implementation of a habitat-guided management is explored here: publication Druon J-N (2010) Habitat Mapping of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Derived from Satellite Data: Its Potential as a Tool for the Sustainable Management of Fisheries. Marine Policy; 34(2):293-297. Open access at: http://www.int-res.com/articles/meps_oa/m439p223.pdf

For further information: http://ipsc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/index.php/Fishreg/288/0/


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/ecjr-sdc112111.php

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Digital Movies to Replace Film by 2015

Image: Sarah_Ackerman, courtesy Flickr

The standard 35 mm film we're all used to seeing in movie theaters will be replaced worldwide by digital technology in the next few years, and the hit blockbuster film "Avatar" is to blame for the shift, according to a new report.

A report from the IHS Screen Digest Cinema Intelligence Service said that 35 mm film, which has been the dominant projection format in movie theaters for more than 120 years, is nearing the end of its life, as the majority of cinema screens in the U.S. are expected to go digital in 2012.

In fact, IHS expects 35 mm will be replaced by digital technology globally by 2015, the report said. By the end of 2012, 35 mm film in movie theaters is expected to decline to 37 percent on a global scale, which is a dramatic decline from 68 percent of global cinema screens in 2010.

?Movie theaters now are undergoing a rapid transition to digital technology, spurred initially by the rising popularity of 3-D films ,? said David Hancock, head of film and cinema research at IHS.

?The release of 'Avatar' in December 2009 represented the pivotal moment for digital cinema, with digital technology forming the bedrock of the modern cinema environment,? Hancock added. ?Before 'Avatar,' digital represented only a small portion of the market, accounting for 15 percent of global screens in 2009.? [Read: 10 Profound Innovations Ahead ]

After "Avatar," digital film technology grew 17 percent in both 2010 and 2011, compared to single-digit increases during the previous years. "Avatar" also increased the demand for digital 3-D technology.

In the U.S., IHS expects that there won?t be any mainstream usage of 35 mm film in 2013. Western Europe is expected to change to digital by the end of 2014, and the rest of the world will then be under pressure to follow the trend, the report said.

"While the era of 35 mm will end at this time, there will still be some older films circulating in print for some cinemas," Hancock said. "Ironically, these last prints may have a high value as they circulate among a relatively small number of theaters dedicated to keeping the legacy of traditional film alive."

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Regional tensions limit Bhutan climate summit aims (AP)

NEW DELHI, India ? Four Himalayan nations, faced with erratic weather and the threat of melting glaciers and catastrophic floods, are hashing out a plan for preserving the vast mountain range and helping millions living in the foothills cope with climate change.

But as India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan set to work on a new 10-year management policy, three other major Himalayan nations will be conspicuously absent.

Organizers have downplayed the fact that Pakistan, China and Afghanistan are not attending the Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas, saying the talks Saturday in Bhutan's capital of Thimphu are focused on securing ecosystems, endangered species, forests and food and water sources for only the eastern part of the range.

The summit, to some extent, is the Himalayan answer to an urgent need for action amid the international community's inability to agree on limiting greenhouse gas emissions thought to cause global warming. Expectations are again low for a breakthrough at the next U.N. climate talks, beginning Nov. 28 in Durban, South Africa.

"Climate change is placing extraordinary pressure on the Eastern Himalayas ? its people, iconic landscapes and species are all being hit hard by changing weather patters," Bhutan's Agriculture Minister Pema Gyamtsho said in a statement. "The Eastern Himalayas is now in urgent need of a regional framework of cooperation that combines expertise from governments, NGOs and civil society. Himalayan nations must act now."

But the absence of three key players underscores the difficulty of reaching regional consensus on how best to protect the peaks, known as the "Water Towers of Asia," with snowmelts feeding into the continent's seven largest rivers.

Regional tensions have long prevented Himalayan cooperation, including basic research in the world's largest block of glaciers outside the polar regions, and accounting for 40 percent of the world's fresh water.

"The Himalayas present an opportunity where India and China, for example, could really work together to understand and preserve the glaciers, which are a very important ecosystem not just for the region, but for the global climate," said glaciologist Shakeel Romshoo, head of the geology department at the University of Kashmir.

A first step, scientists say, would be to establish a research framework for the region, where just a few dozen of the tens of thousands of glaciers have been studied.

"There is so much acrimony and mistrust, (the countries) are not able to think logically about what needs to be done," Romshoo said.

Many lower-altitude glaciers are melting faster, with thousands of new lakes appearing and threatening mountain villages and agricultural plateaus with catastrophic floods should they overflow. Weather patterns have changed, with some regions experiencing torrential monsoons and mudslides, and others suffering droughts. The flow of rivers carrying snow melt toward the seas is less predictable.

As populations grow, and economies need more water for agriculture and energy production, establishing and revising water treaties will become a key issue to the seven Himalayan-dependent nations as water is predicted to get more scarce.

But drafting such treaties, experts say, requires a better understanding of the glaciers themselves, how fast they are melting, and what exactly is causing it. Scientists are still unable to say how much of an impact rising world temperatures have versus other influences, including soot coming mainly from Indian and Chinese cities that colors the ice black.

Ramshoo's own study of the Indus glacier system, providing a lifeline downriver in the Pakistani plateaus, has been hobbled by India and Pakistan's rivalry. Ramshoo has access only to small ice caps on the Indian side. "We know they are melting, but we don't know what's happening on the Pakistan side" where reports indicate the larger glaciers at higher altitude are stable or growing, he said. For years, however, Romshoo has been unable even to get meteorological data from Pakistan.

Kashmir's Siachin Glacier, dubbed the world's highest battlefield with Indian and Pakistani troops facing off, remains a question mark for scientists. Despite several wars, the two countries have honored their 1960 Indus Water Treaty, but Pakistan recently has shown concern about its future allotment, twice bringing complaints about Indian hydropower dams to the World Bank for arbitration.

"There are issues, of course, there are areas to improve," Indian Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said. "We are committed to cooperating with the Himalayan countries, but it will take time. On these issues, though, there is perhaps more understanding than on others."

China's neighbors, meanwhile, worry that Beijing's rapid program of damming major rivers flowing from the Tibetan plateau will trigger natural disasters, degrade fragile ecologies and divert vital water supplies. The worries might be lessened if China shared hydrological and other data, but China, along with Turkey, refuse to sign a key 1997 U.N. convention on transnational rivers.

Tiny Nepal, home to Mount Everest, is still recovering from a decade of civil war and the ensuing political instability.

___

Follow Katy Daigle on Twitter at http://twitter.com/katydaigle

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111118/ap_on_re_as/as_bhutan_climate_summit

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