16 pages, The round sardinella, Sardinella aurita, is the most important species in the North Sinai fisheries; it represents about 85 % of the total catch in the North Sinai fisheries, yet the fishing activities are still based on traditional methods, like gathering information from fellow fishermen. The fishing grounds constantly change due to environmental factors; therefore, determining the potential fishing zones (PFZs) must depend on effective and advanced techniques to monitor the optimal (PFZs) for Sardinella aurita along the North Sinai coastal zone. This study integrated the daily Sentinel-3 satellite's remotely sensed data, advanced digital imagery processing techniques, and fish yield data obtained from the General Authority for Fish Resources Development (GAFRD) for Sardinella aurita in the North Sinai fisheries during 2021 to build a suitable model for determining, monitoring, and predicting the other optimal (PFZs) for Sardinella aurita along the North Sinai coastal zone. The results confirmed that, regarding the total catch of Sardinella aurita in 2021, the highest catch reached 73, 68, and 47 tons in April, December, and November, respectively, while the lowest catch reached 6 tons in January. The predicted PFZs resulting from the model are estimated to be 7 times more than the fishing grounds where fishermen currently fish. Moreover, the results confirmed the strong linkage between Sardinella aurita abundance and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration with sea surface temperature (SST). This study highlighted the importance of using remotely sensed data to help increase the national income from the fisheries sector by determining and predicting new fishing zones.
8 pages, Commercial, Industrial and agricultural wastes are major soil pollutants, which contain inorganic, organic compounds and heavy metals. When these heavy metals accumulate in agricultural lands, they adversely affect on growth and physiology of crops ultimately causing decrease in food productivity. In this experiment maize was used to investigate the effects of heavy metals on plant physiology and growth. Maize is cultivated throughout the world for its importance as cereal. It is the third most important cereal crop, following wheat and rice. Maize is a significant food source for humans providing essential minerals, vitamins, carotene and ascorbic acid. Apart from its importance as a cereal source, it also serves as important raw material for various products such as syrup, starch and oil. Various concentrations of Cr and Mn were applied individually as well as in combination to examine their effects on growth and physiology of maize. Analysis of recorded data showed that the treatment 0.5 mM MnCl2 + 0.25 mM CrCl3 had the most harmful effect and caused significant decrease in height, number of leaves and chlorophyll 'a' and 'b' in the stems and leaves. While less harmful effects were seen when heavy metals were applied individually such as 0.25 mM CrCl3, 0.25 mM MnCl2 and 0.5 mM MnCl2 as these treatments did not significantly impact on height, leaf area and chlorophyll content in stems and leaves. So, from these results it can be concluded that. when chromium was applied separately, it had minimal impact on plant physiology and growth, but in combination with manganese, it severely affected on maize plants. Similarly, a small concentration of manganese alone did not affect plant growth, but combined with chromium, it negatively impacted photosynthetic pigments and growth traits.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12971
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10 pages, Toxins, pollution and invisible boundary lines are obstacles to harvesting bivalves such as clams and oysters. A new cohort of cellphone and web apps promises to help people farm and harvest shellfish more responsibly.
3pgs, Oil and gas wells left unattended pose an environmental danger and weigh heavily on tax payers’ pockets. The federal accountability system overseeing the companies involved needs a complete overhaul.
4pgs, A wetland contaminated by industrial waste is slowly coming back to life. Nature’s tenacity found a powerful ally in a kayak tours operator and her many volunteers.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12108
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Online from Radio Free. 3 pages., Author reports on helping the U.S. Senate draft and pass the Physician Payments Sunshine Act a decade ago. It requires companies to report monies and gifts they give physicians, which are known to influence what doctors prescribe or promote. "We need a 'sunshine law' for science that would expose all sorts of conflicts of interest and industry manipulation that skew research on food, synthetical chemicals, pesticides, air pollution, genetic technology, and the climate."
