Fine-mesh monofilament gill nets were deployed within the three shallow lakes of the Rotopiko complex, Waikato, New Zealand to assess their potential as a tool for controlling or eradicating rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus). Nets of different mesh sizes were placed at different spacings and orientations throughout the lakes for two fishing periods, to determine methodology to be used for intensive removal. Rudd were intensively netted for a further two periods and then the success of the operations was assessed. Gill nets of a 13-mm mesh were more effective at capturing rudd when set perpendicular rather than parallel to the shore, whereas there was no significant effect of orientation in 25 mm and 38 mm nets. Comparisons of catch per unit effort (CPUE) on the first night of fishing for M03087; Online publication date 3 August 2004 Received 2 December 2003; accepted 28 April 2004each fishing period showed a significant reduction in the initial CPUE as fishing proceeded. A reduction in the numbers of rudd captured was most marked in the 38 mm nets. 80% of rudd captured over a 7-night period were caught in the first 3 nights of fishing. Post-removal sampling using gill, fyke, and trammel nets, and an electric fishing boat, showed that rudd remained in all of the lakes following intensive removal efforts. However, relative to other methods currently available in New Zealand for control or eradication of unwanted fish, monofilament gill nets appear to be a potentially viable and cost-effective option where ongoing control may provide sustained conservation outcomes.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is both a concurrent and historical practice, manifesting in geographically diverse regions and across different religious groups. Wherever it is practiced, the ritual cutting of female genitals is an act designed to undermine a woman’s personal sexual autonomy and identity, as well as reify patriarchal power relations. Although historically practiced in Islamic communities, records of female genital mutilation predate Islam, and the validity of Quranic references to the practice are contested by modern Islamic scholars. The recent incidents of FGM reported to have occurred in expatriate Muslim communities in Western European and North American nations reveal an ancient tribal practice that has acclimated itself to notions of modern Western medical authority. In fact, there is evidence for the presence of FGM in Western culture since the 19th century, in a context distinct from Muslim communities or Islamic religious influence; the history and current iterations of FGM in the West conform closely to Foucauldian theories of sex and power, and echo Foucault’s assertion, discussed in The History of Sexuality, that power relations must successfully conceal their own mechanisms in order to maintain viability within society. Consequently, patterns associated with twenty first century FGM analogize the construction of “religious violence” as a cultural category in Western discourse. When gendered violence is categorized as “religious,” it is inevitably subjected to a process of othering that serves to further embed its practices as part of the collective social reality.

Inter-cultural religious development is an ongoing phenomenon that continues to provide relevant examples in today's world. As a result of this dynamic, many Aboriginal cultures known to have adopted the religion of the colonial state have retained much of their traditional spirituality, in both thought and practice. Aboriginal Christianity draws on traditional indigenous interpretations of time, place and space, which functions to separate it from classic European modes of Christianity. Time, place, and space, as fundamental dynamics of environment, are generally viewed by modern Europeanized society as indisputable, empirical expressions, or more specifically as the quantifying constructions of a secularized world. In actuality, much of our mainstream understanding of these dynamics has roots in Christian theology; ideas of time, place, and space in an Aboriginal context have been and continue to be seen as inextricably tied to the spiritual order of the universe. This presentation analyzes the extent to which time, place, and space implicate themselves as demarcations of relationship between the spiritual and the physical in Aboriginal traditions and European Christianity, with emphasis upon the intersection of belief found within Aboriginal Christianity. In addition, an analysis will be made of the role that the “spirituality of the relational environment” plays in refining Western colonial ideology.