Search

There has been a growing interest in recent years in the potential use of product differentiation in seafood products (mainly through eco-type labelling), as a means of promoting and rewarding the sustainable management and exploitation of fish stocks. The potential encapsulated by product differentiation has, however, yet to be tested in the market place within many countries, including the UK. This paper draws on a study exploring the nature and extent of the response of UK consumers to the introduction of labelled seafood products and explores the potential of product differentiation to promote sustainable fisheries. From the results presented in this paper, the scale of the effect has been shown to be greater for sustainability and quality forms of product differentiation than the effect generated by any of the other potential labels. The origin and mode of production also generated sizeable and significant effects. These results suggest that moves underway to implement certification schemes can be justified in support of sustainable fisheries management. The important policy implication is that improvement in the supply-side management of fisheries will be needed to facilitate more widespread adaptation of certification schemes. Nonetheless, the opportunities for higher premiums and greater market share due to certification will provide additional incentives for the required management improvements.

Evaluating the performance of fisheries and the effectiveness of fisheries management measures requires economic as well as biological information. A recent House of Commons Agriculture Committee report has drawn attention to the scarcity of economic information on UK sea fisheries, and recommends the commissioning of regular research into the profitability of the fishing industry. While supporting this recommendation, the present article contends that the information requirements are more extensive than those suggested by the Committee; specifically, the need is for information that enables policy makers to assess both the actual profitability of fisheries in their existing state and also their potential profitability under alternative fisheries management regimes. In practice this calls for the commissioning not just of regular costs and earnings studies, important though these may be for painting an up-to-date picture of the current economic performance of fisheries, but a modelling framework that can answer “what-if ?” questions about the way economic performance might be altered or improved under different policy scenarios.

The Scottish Collaborative On‐demand Publishing Enterprise (SCOPE) was a project funded from 1995 to 1998 as part of the UK’s Electronic Libraries (eLib) programme. SCOPE was involved with providing students with access to key course readings either via course packs or electronically via the Internet. The project achieved its aims of providing improved access, developing a model copyright permissions agreement, and developing a secure user‐authentication and delivery method. At the end of the SCOPE Project, eLib accepted a bid from the project team and other partners to provide a national on‐demand service, known as HERON (Higher Education Resources ON‐demand). This has similar aims to SCOPE, but on a UK‐wide scale with a view to start providing an active service in January 2000.

The Scottish Collaborative On-demand Publishing Enterprise (SCOPE) has its roots inthe Follet Report of 1993. The main aim of SCOPE is to allow students better access to key reading materials. To this end, SCOPE has developed an electronic resource bank of digitized book chapters and journal articles which lecturers have selected as key reading for their courses.

This study is based on interviews conducted among 8 women's income-generating groups and 12 individual women entrepreneurs in 15 villages in Masaka district, Uganda. The Baganda are the main tribe in the study villages. The study evaluates the economic achievement, objectives, and social characteristics of the groups. Groups ranged in size from 9-20 members. All had functioned for 3-5 years. A regular membership fee was paid through the sale of agricultural produce. Groups met at least every 2 weeks. This study revealed that the individual goals were to increase individual wealth, while the stated group goals were to invest in the community. Members considered the groups as useful in providing an easy way to raise capital. Most members considered financial status as a criterion for group membership. Elderly women tended to join social and handicraft groups. The women's group members tended to be friends before the establishment of the group and tended to be currently married to men residing in the area. Of the 12 women entrepreneurs, only 5 were currently married. All 12 women entrepreneurs had considerable initiative. The 12 women and the women's group members derived income from two or more sources: agricultural projects, animal husbandry, craft production, alcohol production and sale, or other activities. Study findings indicate that decisions were often delayed or avoided in order to preserve social cohesion. In a market-oriented enterprise, quick response time is needed and the bureaucratic dynamics would hinder some agricultural ventures. The poorest women experienced barriers to group membership. Women entrepreneurs were more successful than group women.

Despite a significant body of well-founded legislation oil pollution incidents still occur. There are a number of reasons for this less than perfect environmental performance. The principal factor in their resolution is, however, the explicit recognition of the role of corporate organizational behaviour in determining the quality of the marine environment. Environmental management does not end with government legislation and its policy derivatives but must be implemented offshore. Numerous commercial entities are implicitly tasked with implementing environmental management at the operational level. The hydrocarbon industry on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf is utilized to illustrate the various facets of corporate environmental scanning, communication and decision-taking which feature in their environmental performance.

There are numerous legal questions associated with artificial reefs, relating to their location, construction, operation and decommissioning. Unlike other disciplines where the state of knowledge is the result of specific research, law exists and applies irrespective of any explicit mention or consideration of artificial reefs or their requirements in its provisions.

This study investigates the relationship between social and environmental variables and diarrhoea and growth in children aged between 6 and 36 months in an urban area of The Gambia, West Africa. The social and environmental conditions of 493 children were observed and recorded over a period of 12 months. Two hundred and seventy-seven children were under weekly diarrhoea surveillance for a 15 week period during the wet season and 322 children had anthropometric measurements taken in May and September. Computer analysis was used to determine association between single and multiple environmental and social factors and diarrhoea prevalence and growth. The results of the diarrhoea surveillance showed that there was considerable variation between individual children. Thirty children had no diarrhoea during the period of surveillance and 30 had diarrhoea for over 24% of the time, with 2 children having diarrhoea for more than 50 days out of a total of 105. None of the social and environmental variables recorded showed a significant relationship with diarrhoea prevalence. The anthropometric measurements showed that at the end of the wet season, in September, 23% of children in this age group were less than 90% of the National Centre for Health Statistics standards of height for age and several of the variables recorded showed a statistically significant association with this measurement.