The Rivers Trust

There are not many books in South Africa that help guide the teacher, student and ordinary people to get into the creative mind and explore the intricacies of genius. Ways of Seeing Mancoba’s Art does exactly that. It provides us with tools to see into the complex and restless mind of Mancoba as he searches for the elusive spirituality in Art. His canvas takes us to the whole continent of Africa seeking symbols, images and ideograms to pattern meanings. There is a general cry in South Africa’s educational system that there are not enough teachers to teach Art and as a consequence brilliant programmes are abandoned save in private and some Model C schools. Township schools are left lagging behind creating a cruel uneven development in our national aesthetic appreciation and understanding. This book will fill a gap and I hope inspire others to build on this powerful foundation! Mancoba’s art is not abstract but “abstracted” from the reality of signs and symbols to reveal Africa’s richness in the visual arts. His Art is contemporary and essentially African thus creating tensions that challenge and infuse the viewer with stunning surprises as it draws one deeper and deeper into the world of the creative mind. - Professor Pitika Ntuli

Abstract Tracking of animal migrations using telemetry technologies needs to take into consideration the burden that the tag exerts on the animal. Here, we examined the potential impacts of acoustic tags of two sizes (nominally a ‘V6’ [smaller] and ‘V7’ [larger]) on the downstream riverine migration success and behaviour of wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) smolts. One hundred fish were tagged with either a V6 or V7 tag. Tag burden (tag: fish weight) ranged from 1.88% to 7.39% and differed significantly between fish tagged with the V6 (mean [SD] = 3.63% [0.51%]) and the V7 tags (mean [SD] = 5.84% [0.95%]). There was no significant difference in the in‐river migration failure between the two groups when tested with a time‐to‐event analysis. There were also no differences in other elements of the migratory behaviour (rate of movement, time of detection and residency time) between the two tagging groups. These data support the use of acoustic tracking for monitoring smolt migration and highlight that tagging of smaller smolts at up to 7.39% tag burden to gain a more representative understanding of migration success and behaviours across a smolt population.

There are high aspirations for environmental water quality targets in the UK, but requirements for significant growth in agricultural production to meet both food security objectives and provide viable livelihoods for farmers make these hard to achieve. Significant water quality challenges are related to nutrients, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, pathogens, sediments and habitat alteration. To facilitate the challenges posed, there is a need for predictive, spatially distributed models to be developed that encompass the key aspects of agriculture and water management in order to inform future policy and organizations with an interest in land management. Additionally, there needs to be recognition from policy makers that different solutions are needed in different agri‐water systems and that it often takes many years or decades for policies to have a sustained water quality impact. Long‐term support for research infrastructure and the scientific skills base is required to enable measurement and data analysis necessary to inform decision making. Farmers need clearly articulated information on the issues and potential solutions on which to make informed management decisions regarding water. There are existing solutions to some problems and this knowledge needs to be effectively disseminated with appropriate incentives for implementation to have maximum impact. Greater collaboration between researchers, industry, and policy makers, with the necessary framework to deliver effective joint working, is urgently needed. There is also a need for a wider societal understanding of the land–water system and the various ways in which society pays (and might pay in the future) for the real value of water. WIREs Water 2017, 4:e1201. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1201This article is categorized under: Water and Life > Stresses and Pressures on Ecosystems Science of Water > Water Quality