Husn e Haqiqi

Allah Hoo

Fisheries and Aquaculture Face Multiple Risks from Climate Change

The study, 'Climate change implications for fisheries and aquaculture', is one of the most comprehensive surveys to date of existing scientific knowledge on the impacts of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture. Covering some 500 scientific papers, the picture the FAO review paints is one of an already-vulnerable sector facing widespread and often profound changes.


The report includes contributions from experts from around the world, including Dr Tim Daw and Prof Katrina Brown of the School of International Development and Prof Neil Adger of the School of Environmental Sciences at UEA. Other contributors come from the WorldFish Center, Globec, Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Dr Daw and Profs Adger and Brown co-authored the chapter 'Climate change and capture fisheries: potential impacts, adaptation and mitigation', which looks at the social vulnerability of fisherfolk to climate change. "Marine and freshwater ecosystems will be profoundly affected by processes like ocean acidification, coral bleaching and altered river flows with obvious impacts on fisherfolk, but it is not just about what happens to the fish," said Dr Daw. "Fishing communities are vulnerable to sea level rise and their livelihoods are threatened by storms and extreme weather. Meanwhile, the social and economic context of fisheries will be disrupted by impacts on security, migration, transport and markets."

"Fisheries are already rapidly evolving due to overexploitation and globalisation. They will suffer from wide range of different impacts from climate change, which may be unpredictable and surprising. The poorest will be least able to adapt to these impacts. For example in Kenya poorer fishers were shown to be less likely to switch to other livelihoods if catches declined."

Prof Adger added: "Climate change is going to be a huge challenge to every sector of society and what we're learning about fisheries shows how difficult adaptation will be, particularly for the poorest parts of the world."

According to the report, marine capture fisheries already facing multiple challenges due to overfishing, habitat loss and weak management are poorly positioned to cope with new problems stemming from climate change. Small island developing states -- which depend on fisheries and aquaculture for at least 50 percent of their animal protein intake -- are in a particularly vulnerable position.

Some 520 million people depend on fisheries and aquaculture as a source of protein and income. For 400 million of the poorest of these, fish provides half or more of their animal protein and dietary minerals. Many fishing and coastal communities already subsist in precarious and vulnerable conditions because of poverty and rural underdevelopment, with their wellbeing often undermined by over-exploitation of fishery resources and degraded ecosystems.

Inland fisheries -- 90 per cent of which are found in Africa and Asia -- are also at risk, threatening the food supply and livelihoods of some of the world's poorest populations. Warming in Africa and central Asia is expected to be above the global mean, and predictions suggest that by 2100 significant negative impacts will be felt across 25 per cent of Africa's inland aquatic ecosystems.

Fish farming will also be affected. Nearly 65 per cent of aquaculture is inland and concentrated mostly in the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, often in the delta areas of major rivers at the mid- to upper levels of tidal ranges. Sea level rise over the next decades will increase upstream salinity, affecting fish farms.

A crucial issue highlighted by the report relates to how well such communities will be able to adapt to change. For example, even if African coastal fisheries do not face huge impacts, the region's 'adaptive capacity' to respond to climate change is low, rendering communities there highly vulnerable even to minor changes in climate and temperature.

Friendly Bacteria Love the Humble Apple

Microbiologists from the National Food Institute at the University of Denmark fed rats on a diet that was rich in whole apples, apple juice, purée or pomace, or put them on a control diet. They then analysed the microbial content of the rats' digestive systems to see if eating apples had any impact on the numbers of presumed 'friendly' bacteria in the gut.
"Certain bacteria are believed to be beneficial for digestive health and may influence the risk for cancer. We faced a well-known problem though -- many types of bacteria cannot be easily cultured in the lab," said research leader Professor Tine Rask Licht. The team therefore used genetics instead of culture techniques to examine the microbiology of the intestines. 16S rRNA is a molecule that is only found in bacteria and its make up is unique to each species or strain. "By working out the sequences of 16S rRNA molecules in the rats' intestines and matching these to known bacterial profiles of 16S rRNA, we could determine which microorganisms were abundant in each group of rats," explained Licht.
So what was the verdict? "In our study we found that rats eating a diet high in pectin, a component of dietary fiber in apples, had increased amounts of certain bacteria that may improve intestinal health," said co-researcher Andrea Wilcks. "It seems that when apples are eaten regularly and over a prolonged period of time, these bacteria help produce short-chain fatty acids that provide ideal pH conditions for ensuring a beneficial balance of microorganisms. They also produce a chemical called butyrate, which is an important fuel for the cells of the intestinal wall."
Of course, further research is needed to determine whether the digestive system of humans responds to apples in the same way as rats, but these findings certainly suggest that Europe's favourite fruit has a well-deserved place in our 5-a-day.

Terror Is Us.....

They came down,vaguely three times
Individuals, not society
We have lasted long
They not at all
Terrorists?
Terror is us

More lives lost there
Less lives lost here
Higher religion here?
Lower religion there?
Makes no sense for us
To attack a party from the east
When they have barely harmed
Terrorists?
Terror is us

They improved the w...orld
We improve the world?
They are evil?
We are evil
They are weak
We are strong for attacking?
Terrorists?
Terror is us

A great empire fell
A group stood and took the enemy across the sea down
An entire nation did not do such
Nor did a religion
Terrorists?
Terror is us