1,720,967 research outputs found
Validating citizen science for community-driven microplastic monitoring and marine protection in Northeast Iceland's Hope Spot
Get PDFGovernments are increasingly monitoring meso- and microplastic (M/MP) pollution in surface waters to develop cost-effective solutions. While citizen science is widely used in programs like the EU's Marine Litter Watch and NOAA's sampling in the U.S., these efforts primarily focus on macro litter, leaving gaps in M/MP data, especially in under-sampled regions like Icelandic waters. This study addresses this gap through a citizen science initiative (2019–2023) that monitored M/MP pollution in the “Northeast Iceland Hope Spot.” Fifty-eight trawl samples were collected from whale-watching and expedition vessels using a low-tech aquatic debris instrument (LADI) or a high-speed AVANI trawl. M/MP were present in 86 % of samples, with an average density of 0.02 ± 0.03 particles/m3. Concentrations varied significantly between sites (p = 0.005), peaking in Grímsey (0.070 ± 0.03 particles/m3), followed by Eyjafjörður (0.006 ± 0.04 particles/m3) and Skjálfandi Bay (0.004 ± 0.03 particles/m3). Mesoplastics comprised 44 % and microplastics 56 %, primarily polyethylene (47 %) and polypropylene (39 %)—common materials in fishing gear and household plastics. These findings suggest that local currents and fishing activities influence M/MP distribution. Comparison with previous studies validates the use of the presented citizen science methods for tracking floating M/MP in coastal waters and highlights their value in shaping marine conservation policies, particularly in vulnerable subarctic ecosystems
Monitoring and mitigating cetacean bycatch and entanglement in fishing gear, with a focus on humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Iceland
Get PDFAs industries expand in sub-Arctic and Arctic waters there are increased conflicts between these industries and cetaceans. The aim of this work was to investigate the issue of cetacean bycatch/entanglement in Iceland, with a particular focus on the understudied issue of humpback whale entanglement. Bycatch/entanglement in fishing gear is a serious threat to cetaceans, as well as a detriment to fisheries, and mandatory bycatch reporting in logbooks could be of immense scientific value; however cetacean bycatch is considered greatly under-reported. I determined that cetacean bycatch was significantly under-reported in fisher logbooks in nearly all (7/8) trawl, net, and hook and line fisheries that could be examined in New Zealand, Iceland, and the USA when compared to observer data. The cod gillnets in Iceland had the biggest difference between fisher and observer catch per unit effort (with the observer estimate being 270 times greater). Large whale entanglements only accounted for an average of 12% of reported incidents, supporting the idea that these events are the most under-reported. Through scar-based analysis I determined that at least 25% of Icelandic humpback whales have been entangled and this is occurring at a rate of 2% annually. I tested acoustic alarms as an entanglement mitigation tool and through experimental exposure trials it was determined that humpback whales responded to the “whale pinger” by significantly increasing their speed and decreasing their surface feeding. These pingers were also fitted on a capelin purse seine net and I observed that humpback whales still entered the net from the bottom, but they were able to escape through a pinger-free opening. Using anonymous questionnaires and interviews, I gained further insight into entanglement from the fishers’ perspective. Humpback whales were the most commonly reported species that was witnessed entangled, and this occurred most often in capelin purse seines. Damage and losses due to whale collisions with gear was reported to cost fishers up to 55.000.000 ISK. Overall, this work resulted in the first systematic quantification and statistical comparisons of cetacean bycatch under-reporting in logbooks versus observer data. This assessment of whole fisheries in individual countries provides baseline data for improvement of mandatory cetacean bycatch data for scientific use. Additionally, I provided first scientific evidence that entanglement is a prevalent issue in the Icelandic humpback whale population and Icelandic fisheries, sometimes having detrimental effects on both parties. Furthermore, this work resulted in the first evidence that whale pingers may be a useful entanglement mitigation tool in humpback whale feeding grounds. The experimental exposure trials revealed that surface feeding behaviour can be used as a response variable, while results of the in-situ capelin purse seine trial suggested humpback whales may have good directional hearing that can be examined through pinger experiments.Samfara útþenslu iðnaðar og sjávarútvegs á hafsvæðum norðurslóða (kaldtempruðum og heimskautasvæðum) aukast hagsmunaárekstrar milli þessara athafna mannsins og hvala. Markmið þessarar vinnu er að rannsaka ánetjun hvala í veiðarfæri við Ísland, með sérstakri áherslu á ánetjun hnúfubaka þar sem rannsóknir hefur skort. Meðafli/ánetjun í veiðarfærum er alvarleg ógn við hvali og skylduskráning þeirra í afladagbækur gæti haft mjög mikið vísindalegt gildi; en meðafli hvala er talinn mjög vanskráður. Ég dró þá ályktun að meðafli hvala var marktækt vanskráður í afladagbækur næstum allra (7/8) tog-, neta-, króka- og línuveiða sem við náðum að rannsaka í Nýja Sjálandi, Íslandi og Bandaríkjunum samanborið við gögn eftirlitsaðila. Mestur var munurinn (270x meiri) milli skráninga fiskimanna og eftirlitsmanna hvað varðar afla á sóknareiningu í þorskanet við Ísland. Ánetjun stórhvala var að meðaltali einungis 12% af tilkynntum atvikum, sem styður þá hugmynd að þessi atvik séu mest vanskráð. Með greiningu á örum ályktaði ég að minnst 25% íslenskra hnúfubaka hafa flækst í veiðarfæri og að tíðni slíkrar ánetjunar sé um 2% árlega. Ég prófaði hljóðfælur sem tæki til að minnka ánetjun og út frá tilraunahljóðsendingum ályktaði ég að hnúfubakar bregðist við hljóðfælum með því að auka marktækt sundhraða og minnka fæðunám við yfirborð sjávar. Þegar hljóðfælurnar voru festar við loðnunætur fóru hnúfubakar eftir sem áður inn í þær neðan frá, en náðu að komast út um hljóðfælulaust op á nótinni. Nafnlausir spurningalistar og viðtöl gáfu frekari upplýsingar um ánetjun frá sjónarhóli sjómanna. Í þessum hluta voru hnúfubakar oftast nefndir og loðnunót var algengasta veiðarfærið varðandi ánetjun. Skemmdir á veiðarfærum og annað tjón sjómanna vegna árekstra hvala við veiðarfæri gat numið allt að 55 milljónum króna samkvæmt þessum skýrslum. Þessi vinna leiddi af sér fyrstu kerfisbundnu mælinguna og tölfræðilegan samanburð á vanhöldum í skráningu hvala í afladagbækur, samanborið við skráningar eftirlitsmanna. Þetta heildarmat fiskveiða í einstökum löndum sýnir viðmiðunargögn sem bætt geta skyldubundnar upplýsingar um meðafla, til vísindalegra nota. Að auki leiddi ég fram fyrstu vísindalegu sannanir þess að ánetjun hnúfubaka er reglubundið fyrirbæri í íslenskum fiskveiðum sem getur haft alvarleg áhrif bæði á hvalina og fiskveiðarnar. Rannsóknirnar leiddu einnig til fyrstu vísbendinga um að hljóðfælur geti verið gagnlegar við að minnka líkur á ánetjun hnúfubaka á fæðuslóð. Tilraunahljóðsendingarnar leiddu í ljós að fæðunám við yfirborð er nýtanlegt sem svarbreyta, en niðurstöður tilraunar með herpinót in-situ gáfu til kynna að hnúfubakar kunni að hafa góða stefnuheyrn sem hægt er að rannsaka í gegnum tilraunir með hljóðfælu
Scar-based analysis and eyewitness accounts of entanglement of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in fishing gear in Iceland
No full textLæst til 25.2.2015Entanglement in fishing gear, or bycatch, of cetaceans is a global issue causing thousands of injuries and mortalities each year. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are one of many cetacean species that become entangled, often non-lethally, in various types of fishing gear, which has detrimental impacts on the whales and can cause damage to the gear. Scar-based analysis can be used to determine the estimated number of humpback whales in a population that have been previously entangled in fishing gear. For this study, scar-based analysis, as well as a survey of fishermen aimed to collect eye-witness entanglement accounts, were conducted to estimate the percent of the Icelandic North Atlantic humpback whale subpopulation that has been entangled in fishing gear, and to learn about these events taking place in Icelandic waters. To conduct scar-based analysis, photographs of individual humpback whale flukes and caudal peduncles were taken in Skjálfandi Bay, Iceland and were examined for evidence of wrapping scars and notches which are indicative of entanglement. Results of the scar-based analysis determined that a minimum of 41.8% of the Icelandic subpopulation has been previously entangled. The survey aimed at fishermen reported 6 eye-witness entanglement accounts involving humpbacks interacting with a variety of fishing gear including seine nets, hook-and-line gear, and gillnets. Though further research into entanglement issues in Iceland should be conducted to gain a clearer understanding of the impacts on the whales and the fishermen, results from this study suggest that there is significant entanglement of this subpopulation. These results could warrant some mitigation and management strategies. The development of an entanglement reporting system could aid in gathering data to make informed management decisions. This study suggests the introduction of regulations to keep fishing activities at a safe distance from whales. Further investigation into the use of whale-safe fishing gear such as weak links for gillnet lines and whale-safe hooks for longline and hook-and-line fishing is also suggested
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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