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There is intense public interest surrounding the conservation and management of sharks, including a debate over whether sustainable shark fisheries are possible or fishing bans on sharks are needed to conserve these animals. An important but rarely discussed data point in discussions of global shark fisheries is the case of British Columbia's fishery for Pacific spiny dogfish, Squalus suckleyi, which in 2011 became the first Marine Stewardship Council-certified shark fishery anywhere in the world. A few years later, despite reportedly healthy local stocks and thriving global markets for this shark, the fishery voluntarily withdrew its MSC certification, and in recent years more than 95% of the quota for Pacific spiny dogfish has been left in the water. This study provides insight into what happened to this fishery through a review of grey literature and a series of stakeholder interviews with British Columbian fishermen, fish processors, managers and environmentalists. It is a rare case study of a fishery that largely ceased operations without a clear mechanistic explanation like a stock collapse, a government mandate to limit fishing or a clear shift in market demand. This fishery appears to have been affected by the combination of several factors, including a temporary reduction in biomass due to oceanographic effects, potential blowback from overly broad environmental messaging that did not distinguish between sustainable and unsustainable shark fisheries, management changes resulting in altered fishing incentives and changes to processing capacity associated with consolidating the fishing industry into ownership by relatively few large companies., (© 2023 Fisheries Society of the British Isles.)

Introduction: Obesity is associated with increased risk of hypercapnic respiratory failure, prolonged duration on mechanical ventilation, and extended weaning periods., Objective: Pilot study to determine whether morbidly obese adult tracheotomized subjects (body mass index [BMI] ⩾ 40) can be more efficiently weaned from the ventilator by optimizing their positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) using either an esophageal balloon or the best achieved static effective compliance., Methods: We randomly assigned 25 morbidly obese adult tracheotomized subjects (median [interquartile range] BMI 53.4 [26.4]; range 40.4-113.8) to 1 of 2 methods of setting PEEP; using either titration guided by esophageal balloon to overcome negative transpulmonary pressure (Ptp) (goal Ptp 0-5 cmH 2 O) (ESO group) or titration to maximize static effective lung compliance (Cstat group). Our outcomes of interest were number of subjects weaned by day 30 and time to wean., Results: At day 30, there was no significant difference in percentage of subjects weaned. 8/13 subjects (62%) in the ESO Group were weaned vs. 9/12(75%) in the Cstat Group ( P  = 0.67). Among the 17 subjects who weaned, median time to ventilator liberation was significantly shorter in the ESO group: 3.5 days vs Cstat group 14 days ( P  = .01). Optimal PEEP in the ESO and Cstat groups was similar (ESO mean ± SD = 26.5 ± 5.7 cmH 2 O and Cstat 24.2 ± 7 cmH 2 O ( P  = .38)., Conclusions: Optimization of PEEP using esophageal balloon to achieve positive transpulmonary pressure did not change the proportion of patients weaned. Among patients who weaned, use of the esophageal balloon resulted in faster liberation from mechanical ventilation. There were no adverse consequences of the high PEEP (mean 25.4; range 13-37 cmH 2 O) used in our study. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at our institution (UMCIRB#10-0343) and registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02323009)., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interests:The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Five spiny dogfish were captured in early-mid May during gillnet and longline sampling targeting juvenile coastal sharks in inshore North Carolina waters.  Dogfish captures were made within Back Sound and Core Sound, North Carolina.  All dogfish were females over the size at maturity, and were caught at stations 1.77-2.74 m in depth, with temperatures 22.9-24.2 °C, 32.8-33.4 ppt salinity, and 6.9-8.0 mg/L dissolved oxygen.  Stations where dogfish were captured were approximately 6.5-15.7 km from the nearest inlet and 43.4-247.1 m from the nearest seagrass bed.  These observations are among the latest in the spring for spiny dogfish in the southeastern U.S. and occurred at higher temperatures than previously recorded for this species.  It is unclear whether late-occurring spiny dogfish in this area represent a cryptic late-migrating or resident segment of the Northwest Atlantic population.

Five spiny dogfish were captured in early-mid May during gillnet and longline sampling targeting juvenile coastal sharks in inshore North Carolina waters.  Dogfish captures were made within Back Sound and Core Sound, North Carolina. All dogfish were females measuring 849-905 mm total length, well over the size at 50% maturity. Dogfish were caught at stations 1.8-2.7 m in depth, with temperatures 22.9-24.2 °C, 32.8-33.4 ppt salinity, and 6.9-8.0 mg/L dissolved oxygen. These observations are among the latest in the spring for spiny dogfish in the southeastern U.S. and occurred at higher temperatures than previously recorded for this species.  It is unclear whether late-occurring spiny dogfish in this area represent a cryptic late-migrating or resident segment of the Northwest Atlantic population.