FISHERIES MANAGEMENT RESEARCH AND THE MDGS: PAST EXPERIENCE AND FUTURE VISION
This paper examines the eleven year Department for International Development funded Fisheries Management Science Programme as a model to explore how fisheries management science can contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It describes how the Programme strategy was able to adapt to a changing policy environment and local needs and demands for research in order to achieve these goals. It describes a research portfolio that addresses a number of themes contributing to achieving ecologically and economically sustainable fisheries that can support and maintain fisheries associated livelihoods. These themes include policy information required to support fisheries; the information systems needed to involve fishers, particularly the poor, in the comanagement of fishery resources; fisheries assessment methods and how these can be integrated within pro-poor capture fisheries management strategies; and, the role that enhancement fisheries can play in poverty alleviation. The paper concludes by highlighting what more needs to be done, building on the achievements of the FMSP, and outlining a vision for the future.
Impact of Fisheries Management Science: Experiences from DFID's Fisheries Management Science Programme
A central objective for UK Department for International Development (DFID) funded research on renewable natural resource systems has been that the research commissioned results in significant positive developmental impacts. This paper describes the outcomes of activities employed by the DFID funded Fisheries Management Science Programme to assess the developmental impact of fisheries management research achieved by projects commissioned under the Programme during the last 11 years. Fisheries pose a particular challenge for the attribution of impacts. A variety of approaches to impact assessment are required, as the systems are characteristically complex, dynamic and heterogeneous. Typically fishery systems operate across multiple scales, involving a wide range of stakeholders with different, and sometimes conflicting, objectives. Fisheries management, usually faced with multiple uncertainties about the system and its dynamics, has to occur at a scale that accounts for both the biophysical scale of the resource and the scale at which there exists the capacity and capability to manage. The paper will illustrate some of the impacts that have been achieved and highlight some of the lessons learned regarding uptake, adoption and impact assessment that should be of interest to researchers and those funding developmental research.
Indian Fig Cactus (Opuntia Ficus-Indica (L.) Miller) in the Americas: an Uncertain History
Abstract: 
 Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Miller is a globally important cactus species with a long history of human use. In addition to the importance of O. ficus-indica as a food for humans and livestock, it also has long served a role in the production of cochineal, a once important textile dye. This cactus also is intimately interwoven into the story of Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg) (South American cactus moth), one of the best-known examples of biological weed control. In this regard, O. ficus-indica has been a target weed as well as an unintended host in C. cactorum invasion. Although the distribution and human-assisted movement of this cactus throughout much of the world is well documented, surprisingly little has been written about its history and movement within the Americas. Literature associated with Opuntia and their phytophagous pests in North and South America was examined in an attempt to determine the history of O. ficus-indica in the Americas. Available information suggests with some certainty that O. ficus-indica originated in present-day Mexico, but the timing of its introduction to South America is much less clear. Taxonomic difficulties associated with distinguishing among Opuntia species and the long pre-Columbian history of exchange between South American and Mesoamerican cultures are two primary complicating factors associated with dating the dispersal of this species to South America. Additionally, previous evidence in support of a pre-Columbian introduction to South America relied on questionable identification of insect-based textile dyes. These uncertainties are significant because clearer knowledge of the history of O. ficus-indica introduction to South America could provide a more complete biological and ecological context to efforts at managing this species in its native and introduced ranges, particularly with respect to the threat posed by C. cactorum in North American and Argentinean plantations.