Demersal fishes are widely thought to be an important source of natural mortality for juvenile American lobster Homarus americanus. There were no significant relationships between abundance indices of American lobster and the dominant demersal fish species, Atlantic cod Gadus morhua, in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. American lobster was found in only one of 22,625 Atlantic cod stomachs collected between 1955 and 1980—a period of low American lobster abundance. Only six of 12,008 Atlantic cod collected between July 1990 and October 1996 (a period of high American lobster abundance) had eaten American lobster. Most size‐classes of the two species were spatially separate from early July to early September and November to May. American plaice Hippoglossoides platessoides, the second most abundant demersal fish species, did not eat American lobster (n = 1,800 stomachs). Again, the two species were spatially isolated for most of the year. More limited studies (in terms of spatial or seasonal coverage) on the diets of eight shallow‐water fish species (n = 4,674 stomachs) detected consumption of American lobster by shorthorn sculpin Myoxocephalus scorpius, cunner Tautogolabrus adspersus, and white hake Urophysis tenuis but not by winter flounder Pleuronectes americanus, yellowtail flounder P. ferruginea, thorny skate Raja radiata, spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias, or Greenland cod Gadus ogac. This study eliminated Atlantic cod, Greenland cod, American plaice, yellowtail flounder, winter flounder, and thorny skate as important predators of American lobster in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence; however, the question of which of the remaining demersal fish species are important predators of American lobster remains largely unresolved.

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As China expands its foreign policy interests and strategic power further into the Pacific Ocean, a division is developing between Beijing's policies in the western Pacific (around East and Southeast Asia), which have begun to assume a more assertive strategic role, and the South Pacific where China is instead seeking to engage in 'soft balancing' power behaviour towards American and by extension Australian and New Zealand interests there. This is being accomplished through China establishing itself as an alternative aid donor to its Melanesian and Polynesian partners and improving its diplomatic stature in the region. Although it is highly unlikely that the South Pacific will see the emergence of 'hard' or military power competition between China and the West, Beijing's increased economic and diplomatic presence is beginning to have a significant impact on Western strategic thinking. These changes have prompted moves by Washington to 're-balance' the region, and Australia and New Zealand to contemplate how best to engage China in what was traditionally seen as their area of interest. This would suggest that soft balancing, while non-military in nature, may nonetheless create much policy debate on shifts in state power.

The reproductlve cycle of glant scallops Placopecten magellan~cus was examlned over a 13 yr perlod from 1978 to 1990 at several sltes wlthln Passamaquoddy Bay New Brunswick Gonosomatlc Index (GSI) and gonad weight were obtalned from scallops sampled approximately monthly From 1985 to 1990 samples were collected every 2 wk durlng the gonad r l p e n~n g and about weekly durlng the spawning perlod Scallops In Passamaquoddy Bay had one main spawnlng perlod between July and September wlth peak spawning occurnng durlng August Spawnlng was not a cont~nuous and complete process but was ~ntermlttent, wlth 2 to 3 spawnlng events There was concordance between these spawnlng events and the lunar/tldal cycle s u g g e s t~n g a tldally related spabvnlng cue Spawnlng was h~g h l y synchronous wlthln local populatlons between sexes, and wlthln the bay Onset duratlon and penodlclty of spawnlng were also slmllar between years The long-term GSI pattern and maxlmum level In the reproduct~ve cycle of glant scallops from Passamaquoddy Bay were annually consistent Thelefore ~t appears that In Passamaquoddy Bay changes In potential reproductlve output (Independent of s u e and numbers) may not be as Important In the determlnatlon of recruitment for scallops as factors operating at other llfe-hlstory stages

The global issue of humanitarian intervention has become more pronounced and complicated in recent years due to increasingly diverging views on addressing security crises between the West on one side and Russia and China on the other. Despite their support for the principles of 'Responsibility to Protect' (R2P), both Russia and China are wary of Western intervention in internal conflicts after the Cold War and have become increasingly critical of Western-led armed intervention in humanitarian conflicts. Unease in Beijing and Moscow over the multilateral intervention in the 2011 Libyan conflict and their ongoing opposition to Western policies in the Syrian Civil War since 2011 would seem to point to ever more coincidence in their negative views of American and Western intervention policies. A conventional wisdom has thus emerged that there is something akin to a Sino-Russian 'bloc', with near-identical policies of discouraging armed intervention within state borders under the aegis of humanitarian intervention or the R2P doctrine, signed in 2005