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Abstract
This essay introduces new evidence for an eschatological Phoenician motif that alludes to a final sailing and its perils, represented by a monstrous lion attacking or sinking a boat. The lion-and-boat motif was, so far, only documented in a Phoenician funerary stela from late classical Athens, the Antipatros/Shem stela. Excavations at the fifth-century BCE Tartessic site of Casas del Turuñuelo in southwestern Spain has revealed a set of ivory and bone panels that decorated a wooden box, bearing relevant iconography in the so-called orientalizing style. Additional comparanda from the Levant, Iberia, and Tunisia in various media (coins, ivories, amulets), add weight to this interpretation. Our analysis highlights how the artists behind the Athenian and Tartessic artifacts were innovative in their way of representing a theme that was not codified iconographically. Most remarkable is the use of an ivory-carving convention (the Phoenician palmette motif) to portray the stylized boat, a choice corroborated by a painted pottery sherd from Olympia. This “palmette-boat” depiction, in our view, is coherent with Egyptian Nilotic boats, but also with the use of flat or shallow river-boats in the Tagus and Guadiana region, illustrating mechanisms of local adaptation of Phoenician sailing and life-death “passing” symbolism. If, as we suggest, this representation can be added to that in the Athenian document, we now have testimonies of two different local adaptations of a Phoenician theme at the two ends of the Mediterranean oikoumene between the archaic and late classical periods.
This study examines how the size at maturity (CW50%) of Callinectes bellicosus Stimpson, 1859 is affected by environmental variability and by the source of the data. The samples were obtained from a coastal lagoon in the eastern Gulf of California between 2000 and 2003, and in 2011. To explore for interannual variation in environmental conditions, an extended negative power-law model was used, with SSTa as the annual sum of monthly sea surface temperature anomalies and Chl-a as the monthly chlorophyll a mean in a year. The interannual variability in the CW50% of C. bellicosus was also calculated. We found that the percent of mature female drives inter-annual variability in CW50% and that the addition of Chl-a to the model does not contribute further to the explanation of this phenomenon. The hypothesis that environmental variations affect the reproductive dynamics of the stocks needs to be tested in this species in another area.
Abstract
The relative growth of Calappa convexa can be used to identify dimorphism or morphological change related to sexual maturation. The carapace width (CW) against width and length of the propodus of the right and left cheliped were tested to obtain a coefficient of allometry. CW against total wet weight WT values were analysed for length-weight relationships (LWR). Relative growth was analysed by a multi-model approach. Five models were tested and the best was selected due to the greater weight of the Akaike criterion (
The fishing effort of a Sinaloa crab fishery in the Gulf of California in 2014 was analysed based on fishermen’s interviews, official catches and permits, and information from a sample of fishing logbooks from five fishery cooperatives operating in four coastal lagoons that contained the daily catch from individual fishing trips. Unauthorized gear, a double-ring net (DR), was used most frequently (>70% of the fishers) for crab fishing, although authorized single-ring nets and Chesapeake traps (CT) were also used with low frequency. The estimated fishing effort was 641 boats/day in the four coastal lagoons, which was 34% more than authorized, and 818 boats/day were employed in all of Sinaloa. A total of 57 479 fishing gears were estimated for the study area, which was 49.9% greater than the maximum authorized number, and 80 822 nominal fishing gears were estimated for the entire Sinaloa crab fishery, 14.15% more than the total gear limit (70 800). The size of the mesh used in the gear was smaller than the authorized limit of 76 mm, and >50% of the catches included crabs of unlawful size. It is argued that the effort must be regulated in terms of the number of vessels, per unit time, and not the number of gears. The information from this study demonstrates a failure to monitor compliance with current regulations and thus means that other strategies for the sustainable management of the fishery, such as co-management, should be tested.
Abstract
In Mexico, swimming crabs are considered a strategic resource because it supports artisanal fishing when the main fish resource (shrimp) is in closed season. In “Marismas Nacionales” the blue crab fishery is relatively new, and the catches have been maintained due to the national demand and the availability of the resource. Individual growth, sexual maturity, sexual ratio and mortality were estimated for Callinectes arcuatus for providing information about its population dynamics. Samplings were carried out every 10 days from October 2002 to November 2003. A total of 6022 specimens of C. arcuatus were collected (70.05% were males and 29.95% females) with a maximum carapace width (CW) of 138.5 mm in males and 118.7 mm for females. For males, case 5 of the Schnute model was the best model for describing the individual growth (
Fishery discards represent 10% of total fishery catches, and insect rearing can be accomplished using this wasted resource. Considering that fish are the main source of n-3 very long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids for human nutrition, and that fish contain both eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, this study focused on monitoring the accumulation of such n-3 very long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in insect larvae. To determine the feasibility of this process, we monitored nutritional changes achieved in two insect larvae – black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens Linnaeus, 1758) and mealworm (Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus, 1758) – fed using two different fish species from discards, i.e. round sardinella (Sardinella aurita Valenciennes, 1847) and blackspot seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo, Brünnich, 1768). Five different diets were prepared: control (broiler feed), 50% discarded fish (round sardinella and blackspot seabream) +50% broiler feed, and 100% discarded fish. The 100% blackspot seabream fed H. illucens accumulated eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid up to 2.4 g /100 g and 0.8 g /100 g, respectively. T. molitor accumulated lower amounts of both n-3 very long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids due to the low intake of fish-containing feed by the larvae.
Tradition and innovation are generally considered antonyms; this antagonistic relationship makes innovation of traditional foods very challenging. However, it is possible to innovate in traditional foods leading to what we call ‘tradfoods’. The culture, tradition, sensory quality, and health benefits can be maintained, but modernizing the manufacturing process leads to safer products, and the new tradfoods are adapted to needs and demands of current consumers. If these basic requirements are fulfilled, consumers are willing to accept the new tradfoods (with innovations in packaging, environmental sustainability, etc.) and they are even willing to pay more for them.
Abstract
The spot prawn fishery, targeting Pandalus platyceros, has failed to prove commercially viable on the Mexican Pacific coast. A survey was carried out off the northwestern coast of Baja California, at depths of 140-180 m. The objective was to describe the biological traits of the species to test the hypothesis that warmer water stimulates higher growth parameters. An average model was estimated that anticipated an inverted exponential growth curve, consequently the growth parameters of the Von Bertalanffy model were obtained as
Abstract
In Mexico, shrimp catch is the main fishing activity, and the second important species is the blue shrimp, Penaeus stylirostris. Specimens of P. stylirostris collected in 2016-2018 from inland waters (bay) and offshore (littoral) in the Santa María la Reforma lagoon (SMLR) system were analysed. The sexes were separated, and then individuals were measured in total length (L, mm) and weighed (W, g). The data were transformed into a natural logarithm and were adjusted to seven candidate models with a multi-model approach (Linear, Quadratic, Cubic, Broken stick, Two segments, Three segments and Four segments: the last two proposed in this study as new equations). A total of 30 439 specimens were analysed. Statistical differences were found in L between areas (KS test,