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Hand held video magnifier.
The manufacturer has not provided any further information about this product
Eschenbach Optik
Dimensions | |
Magnification | 2-22x |
Screen size (diagonal) | 18cm |
Weight | 454g |
Features | |
Camera: Black and white (BW); Colour (C); depends on specific model (D) | "N/A" |
No product specification has been specified.
There is a large choice of equipment and an increasing amount of technology available to help with communication if you are blind or have low vision. This ranges from handheld magnifiers to machines which automatically convert written text to speech, and apps for telephones or tablet devices.
If you have not already done so, we recommend that you have an eye test. An eye test can help detect any eye conditions before you notice the effect on your sight and early treatment may prevent your sight from getting worse. Everyone should have their eyes examined by an optician every two years. If you cannot get to a high street optician because a disability prevents you from leaving your home, you may be entitled to an eye examination at home. You can search for your nearest optician on the NHS Choices website.
If your vision suddenly deteriorates or you have severe pain in your eyes attend your local accident and emergency department as soon as possible.
A low vision assessment can identify a specific type of sight loss such as macular degeneration, glaucoma or Retinitis Pigmentosa. Low vision service provision varies across the country.
If you have low vision, magnifiers may help by enlarging reading and writing materials. These may include labels, instructions, controls, correspondence, books and magazines. Using the wrong magnifier for a significant period of time can cause eye fatigue and physical problems.
Before buying a magnifier consider the magnification and size of the lens. Generally, a larger magnifier will have lower magnification and a high-powered magnifier will have a small lens. Higher magnification magnifiers tend to show you less of what you are looking at, perhaps only a word or a few letters at a time. Low vision training may help you make the most of a magnifier, especially if you are experiencing the symptoms of macular degeneration which causes a loss of central vision, glaucoma or Retinitis Pigmentosa.
These devices can be used for most everyday needs and are held directly over the object to make it appear larger. The strength of magnification may vary between about 1.5 times (x 1.5) to 12 times (x 12). They are available in a range of physical shapes and sizes. How much bigger you see the item will also depend on the distance you and the magnifier are from the object you are looking at.
Some hand-held magnifiers are fitted with a built-in battery powered lamp or LED to improve lighting and enhance the text.
Hand-held magnifiers are not suitable if you have a shaky hand or find a handheld device difficult to grip and as they are held close to the page they are generally unsuitable for use when writing.
Magnifiers with built-in lighting
Hand-held optical magnifiers are available with built-in lighting from a bulb or LED to help illuminate the area being viewed. Some are available with lighting of different colour temperatures. These colour temperatures are described in Kelvin or K. A lower number (e.g. 2,700K) emits a more yellow light, a higher number (e.g. 6,000K) emits a whiter light.
A study in 2012 suggested that individuals who chose magnifiers with their preferred colour temperature found the magnified image clearer and could read faster than if they used a magnifier with a colour temperature they did not like. If you are thinking of purchasing an illuminated magnifier it may be worth trying models with different colour temperatures to find out which you prefer.
Magnifiers with neck cord attachment
These products have a neck cord or attachment which enables the magnifier to rest on the chest leaving the hands free. Some incorporate a second inset lens, giving greater magnification.
Magnifiers attached to spectacle or headband
These magnifiers are built into a spectacle frame and attach or clip to existing spectacles or are supported on a headband. Some lenses are designed to flip away from the eyes when not in use. It is advisable to seek the opinion of a qualified ophthalmologist before additional magnification is added to prescription lenses.
Magnifiers with a stand used directly on or over the subject
If you have weak or shaky hands, using a magnifier on a stand may be ideal for reading and, if the stand is tall enough, also for writing.
Some of these magnifiers have an integral light. However, some users find it difficult to find the start of the text they wish to magnify when using a stand magnifier.
Magnifiers mounted or placed on furniture, floor or wall
These magnifiers are designed to be either wall-mounted, attached to furniture by clamp, or free standing on a table-top or floor. They facilitate hands-free use.
Many are mounted on an adjustable arm allowing variation of angle and position. Some incorporate a light.
Magnifiers to fit over screens
Magnifying equipment included in this section is designed to be attached externally over a TV or computer screen.
Similar to stand magnifiers, these may be particularly suitable if you have reduced grip or shaky hands which make holding a handheld magnifier difficult. However, magnifiers used directly on the page can only be used for reading as there is no room for a pen to be placed underneath.
Dome magnifiers can help to focus available light which helps make the magnified text appear bright. Bar magnifiers focus on one or two lines of text and therefore may help the user to focus on their position on the page. Sheet magnifiers may be designed as full-sized sheets magnifying the whole page or be smaller.
They are sometimes made of plastic and have a relatively low level of magnification, which is determined by the thickness of the lens.
A range of video magnifiers are available from hand-held and portable models, models that connect to computers and/or TV screens and desktop mounted models. Advantages of video magnifiers over traditional magnifiers may include:
Studies have suggested that smaller print sizes may be read at faster reading speeds when using video magnifiers compared with traditional magnifiers, but that users may be slower at initially finding the text they are looking for.
Handheld video magnifiers
These provide a magnified image on an integral screen. Most offer a choice of contrast modes and may also have the option of saving or 'freezing' the image (image capture). The magnification range for these magnifiers tends to be limited relative to desktop video magnifiers. The RNIB state that these items are generally suitable for viewing labels, books and newspapers.
Portable video magnifiers
Portable video magnifiers are larger than handheld magnifiers but are still transportable. The screen and camera may be combined or as separate units connected by a cable.
The camera, which is often similar in shape to a computer mouse, is placed on the original image and can be moved across the paper or object while the magnified image appears on the screen.
Video magnifier systems which provide a magnified image when connected to a television or PC screen
These may consist of a handheld camera, similar in shape to a computer mouse, that rests on the original image and can be moved across the paper or object, or may be mounted resembling a desktop lamp with a head which contains the camera and can be angled to focus on the document.
Please check the connection required to the television, as many models require a SCART socket that many newer televisions may not have.
Desktop video magnifiers
Desktop video magnifiers are stood on a desk or work surface. They have the highest magnification compared to other types of video magnifier.
Most have a fixed camera pointed down at a reading table on which printed material can be placed. On most models the table is on rollers so it can be moved up, down and left to right across the page.
The magnified image can be zoomed in and out and adjusted for contrast and colour. Some models can superimpose a line or dot on the screen to help make it easier to follow the text being read.
Magnifying apps can be downloaded to compatible smart phones and are designed to give a magnified image on the smart phone's screen. These apps do not have the same performance and features as a handheld video magnifier, but if you do use a smart phone you could try an app before deciding whether to invest in a handheld video magnifier.
Many of these apps work best on later versions of well-known phones with an enhanced autofocus cameras. When downloading an app use only well-known app download markets - they significantly reduce the likelihood of downloading an app malware or virus.
If you're interested in downloading a particular app, run an online search on its name first (using a search engine) to see what others say about it or to check for malware reports.
Text to speech scanning machines
Text to speech scanning machines (also called stand-alone reading machines) scan and translate printed text into synthetic speech - you place a book or sheet of text in/on the machine and it will read the text to you. The scanner may be able to read from books, newspapers, magazines and A4 sheets.
Some models can be connected to a screen to give a magnified image of the text as well as speech output. Another function that some models have is the ability to connect to a Braille display to give Braille output of the scanned text.
Alternatively, for users who have a PC with speech output software, it may be a cheaper alternative to buy a scanner and some optical character recognition software (OCR). However, this requires setting up and tends to be slower to use than the purpose built machines. There is also software which can be added to certain mobile phones to give them a reading aid function. The software uses the phone's built-in camera to capture an image of text and then converts it to synthetic speech.
DAISY players
DAISY Players play DAISY audible books and replace the old audio books on cassette format. DAISY is an acronym standing for Digital Accessible Information System and can play/show audio, text and pictures. It makes them accessible to individuals with visual difficulties that affect their ability to read printed material.
DAISY material can be played on a stand-alone DAISY player, or by using DAISY software on a computer. Approximately 25 hours of audio can be recorded on a Daisy CD.
Users of DAISY players can navigate through the recording/book by sections, sub-sections, chapter or pages. Bookmarks can be inserted at any point, and there is a 'resume' option which continues playback from the point the reader last reached (rather than going back to the beginning, which is what happens with conventional CDs).
Tablets and ebooks
Many sites will also provide Ebooks. Ebooks can be read on tablets and ereaders which provide options for enlarging the text. A growing range of tablet and ereader accessories are available including mounts for tablets such as the iPad, and switches and switch interfaces for use with tablets and ebook readers. These switches could, for example, be used to turn the page of an ebook.
Your local library
Your local library is likely to provide a range of audio books and giant print books to loan for free. Speak to your librarian about how to sign up, what titles they have available, and the length of loan available to you.
RNIB Library
The RNIB Library provides a wide range of library and information services for people with sight loss. Resources include talking books, Braille and giant print books, music and online reference services.
RNIB Newsagent
The RNIB Newsagent (formerly National Talking Newspapers and Magazines) provides a wide range of newspapers and magazines for people who find standard print inaccessible. It offers a range of newspaper and magazine titles in a variety of accessible formats, including audio CD or USB, DAISY CD, Braille, large print and online.
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a collection of free electronic books available on the internet. There are currently almost 10,000 books on the site, however these are books out of copyright, generally pre-1923 and so they do not include the latest bestsellers, but do include classic books from authors such as Conan Doyle, Dante, Dickens, Shakespeare, Twain, Verne and Wells. The books can be downloaded to a computer and read with software, or a selection are available as computer-generated eBooks and will play from the Gutenberg site here
If you have not learnt to touch type then finding your way around a computer keyboard may be difficult if you have low vision. There are keyboards and accessories which may help you to navigate around the keyboard.
Keytop stickers & keyboard gloves
Keytop stickers can be stuck onto the individual keys on a computer keyboard.
The stickers have large lettering printed in a bold typeface with either black lettering on a yellow background, white lettering on a black background or black lettering on a white background to enhance the contrast.
Alternatively, flexible keyboard gloves are available to fit over specific keyboards with the same large print, bold high contrast lettering as the stickers.
Large print keyboards
These are standard size keyboards with large print on the keys. As with the stickers the keyboards may be available with black letters on a white or yellow background or white letters with a black background.
Keyboards with large keys
These are keyboards with keys which are larger than a standard keyboard.
They often lack the keys which are not used very often, so it is important to check that any keyboard shortcuts (pressing keys together to activate particular functions) you use can still be made on the keyboard.
These keyboards may have the same colour options as the above large print keyboards and may either lay the keys out in the standard QWERTY format or alphabetically.
Braille is a system of raised dots which people read by feeling with their fingertips. The Braille dots are used to represent words and numbers, punctuation characters and even mathematics, science and music notation.
Braille has many uses with a wide selection of magazines, fiction and non-fiction books available and labelling for items such as food cans and packets, medicines, documents, CDs and games including cards like Uno and bingo. Bank statements, utility bills and other business letters can be provided in Braille and some restaurants and pub chains offer Braille menus.
A Braille character or "cell" consists of 6 or 8 dots. There are different Braille codes in use:
Many experienced Braille users read and write contracted Braille.
Braille requires a fine sense of touch - some individuals with conditions such as diabetes, who have reduced finger sensitivity, may find using Braille difficult. Moon could be an easier alternative.
Braille can be produced manually, using a stylus on a portable hand-frame or on a manual desktop machine similar to traditional manual typewriter.
Traditional frames create a dot on the reverse side of the paper so the Braille has to be written back to front.
Upward writing frames are now available which create the dots on the front of the piece of paper enabling you to produce Braille from left to right as you would read the code.
Some manual machines for creating Braille are portable, others are designed as desktop machines, similar to traditional manual typewriters.
They have six keys to produce the Braille (one key for each dot in a Braille cell). Some Braille machines can use standard A5 and other standard paper sizes.
Good practice indicates that Braille should always be written on Braille paper which ensures that the Braille produced will be far more durable.
Some simple manual Braille machines can produce Braille on Dymo tape to create labels. Alternatively, many people use an audio labeller whereby they can affix a small label or dot to an item, use the device to record the information, then use the device to play back the information.
Braille can also be produced on a computer using translation software and a Braille embosser instead of a printer.
A keyboard with Braille keys instead of the standard QWERTY keys can be used, although some users may prefer to continue using a standard keyboard. A Braille display can be linked to a computer to enable a user to read by touch what is on the screen.
If portable computing is required, Braille notetakers are machines with word processing features similar to an electric word processor or laptop, but with a Braille keyboard and / or Braille display.
Braille embossers
Braille embossers print Braille onto special Braille paper, from a computer. They are connected to the computer like a text printer or can be connected to notetakers. The paper is thicker and more expensive than standard printer paper.
Software is required to convert text to Braille before it is printed/embossed (known as Braille translation software).
Embossers can be noisy; if an embosser is going to be used regularly and cannot be kept in a room away from people, an acoustic hood or soundproof case is recommended. Before purchasing a Braille embosser consider issues such as the noise, the speed the embosser is capable of printing at, and whether you need the printer to be portable.
Braille keyboards
These computer keyboards with Braille keys and are different in design to the traditional QWERTY keyboard keys.
Braille displays
Brailler displays are tactile devices that are usually placed in front of your computer keyboard providing you with the means to read the contents of your computer screen by touch in Braille.
Braille displays have a number of cells and each cell has six or eight pins. These pins are electronically moved up and down, to create a Braille version of the characters that appear on the computer screen. Each Braille cell represents one character from the screen. An 80 cell Braille display represents approximately one line of text on a screen.
Before you purchase a Braille display, try several to ensure that the one you choose is comfortable to use and provides the functions you need. Many screen readers offer two outputs: speech and Braille. Depending on your requirements, using the speech output facility of a screen reader will be a cheaper option than harnessing a Braille display to it. We recommend you speak to the RNIB for advice as these devices can be expensive.
This portable device can be used as a word processor to take notes, record and organise information.
Some may also have features to provide a calendar, phone book, internet, email and run Windows based operating systems. They feedback information by speech output or via a Braille display.
Moon is a system of raised lines and curves that people read by feeling with their fingertips. Moon characters are fairly large and many characters have a strong resemblance to their print equivalent. Consequently, individuals who lose their sight later in life, or individuals who do not have sensitive touch in their fingertips, may find Moon easier to learn then Braille.
Moon can be used to label items such as food cans and packets, medicines, documents, CDs etc. There are books available which are written in Moon, although there are many more books available in Braille than Moon. As Moon is not so well known it is rarely offered as an alternative format for items such as statements, bills and menus.
Moon can be produced using portable hand frames or a computer with a Braille embosser and translation software.
Writing frames
Writing frames, into which a piece of paper can be inserted, are available with an elasticated cord acting as line guides.
Paper, envelopes or documents can be inserted into the flat frame to keep you writing within the lines.
They consist of either plastic frames or string lines (which are more flexible and helpful when writing in small case letters with tails such as g, j, p).
Reading Guides
Reading Guides are plastic cards with cut out rows to allow lines of print to be read without glare or confusion from the surround print. They come in various sizes.
There are also options of higher contrasting lined paper to make the lines more obvious for those with low vision, as well as raised lines so they can be felt by the writer.
Telephones with large keys and/or enlarged numbers
These may be helpful if you have low vision. Some models have keypad buttons with varying shapes to facilitate identification by touch and some have large LCD displays. These features are available on corded, cordless and mobile telephones.
Most push-button telephone keypads have a raised dot on the central five key to help orientate a user relying on touch. Some of the phones in this group have a number of 'one-touch' memory buttons that dial stored telephone numbers.
It may help if other function keys, such as memory keys are separated from and/or shaped differently to the number keys.
Mobile phones
There are models available with an enlarged keypad, emergency button, or a high contrast display with a large font.
Other features can include:
Telephones with spoken annoucements
There are telephones that speak the numbers entered when dialling, so you can confirm you have pressed the intended keys. Some models can also speak out the number of the caller when receiving an incoming call and/or have a talking phone book and speech guidance to the menu settings.
Models with a LCD display showing callers telephone numbers, or spoken announcement of the number of a caller, require subscription to a caller ID service.
BT's 195 Directory Enquiries service is free to apply for if you have a visual impairment and once registered, customers can be connected to the number found at the same rate as if you had dialled it yourself.
Accessories are also available which dial the telephone for you including voice operated diallers - they are used WITH your existing telephone.
Voice diallers
Voice diallers allow you to dial a number by speaking the name of the person you wish to call. Certain mobile telephones offer voice control as a feature for using the entire telephone as part of the telephone's integral settings.
It is wise to consult the instruction manual for your particular telephone to identify how to access this facility.
A range of new technology for phones and tablets is rapidly becoming available; however, it is worth noting that advice about these items is currently at a general level as the market for this technology grows and personal use of the technology will depend on the type of device you have and its technical ability.
Items specifically include new apps for mobile smart phones and tablets which have, for example, the ability to describe the world around you, assist you with writing emails or messages, reading menus to you in restaurants, provide spoken information on how to get home by train and provide information about station locations, train times and platform numbers. Some are free to download and use and others have a charge for use.
If you decide to buy equipment privately it is best to try and compare the different ranges first. You may have an equipment demonstration centre near you where you can visit to view and try out ranges of equipment. You will receive impartial advice to help you choose appropriately. However, centres may not display examples of all the equipment in this factsheet. You will need to contact your nearest centre to find out what they have and to book an appointment.
Be cautious of sales people who try to persuade you to buy equipment that may not meet your needs fully or is over-priced. Buying from a company that belongs to a trade association, such as the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA) may give you some reassurance. BHTA members have signed up to a code of practice governing standards of customer service.
Eligibility for sensory communication equipment varies depending on where you live. Many local authorities apply eligibility criteria for equipment provision, including assistive technology such as communication equipment. Contact your local authority and ask for information on their communication equipment services. They may arrange for you to receive an assessment. This will examine if you meet their criteria to receive the equipment. Some local authorities may only provide equipment to those with 'substantial' or 'critical' needs.
If your local authority assess you as requiring communication equipment, they may also complete a financial assessment. This is to assess the level of any contribution you may be required to make. The charges and how they work vary in different areas.
In some areas of the country a prescription scheme for equipment is in operation. There is a 'national catalogue' of equipment that may be provided by prescription, although local areas can choose which of these items they will include in their schemes. This is part of the Department of Health's Transforming Community Equipment Services (TCES) programme. There is a small range of sensory communication equipment on the national catalogue that can be provided via prescriptions.
If you receive a prescription for one of these items you take your prescription to a local accredited retailer who will provide you with the item. Alternatively you can 'top-up' paying extra for an item that does what the specific item prescribed would do, but offers extra features or perhaps you prefer its appearance. The scheme is designed to stimulate and encourage choice and control.
The supply of equipment depends upon the type and extent of your disability, your age and your circumstances. At present, most reading and writing aids are not regarded as a daily living need and are therefore not supplied via a community occupational therapist.
If you are partially sighted, and have some usable sight, it is worth asking your GP or hospital consultant for an assessment at a low vision clinic. These services often provide small reading aids, such as magnifiers or pocket binoculars on a free loan. These are often provided at NHS hospitals, but a few centres are independently run by the Partially Sighted Society. Sometimes smaller items of daily living equipment may be provided by a social worker at your local authority who deals with sensory impairments.
If you are in paid employment and need equipment to assist you with communication at work, you may be entitled to help with the cost and provision of the equipment. This is through the Access-To-Work (ATW) scheme run by the Department for Work and Pensions. It is designed to pay for the additional cost of aids and adaptations needed because of your disability. In some circumstances, a part-time support worker may be funded to perform these tasks if you are unable to do them for yourself.
If a child has a disability and is under the age of 18 and still at school, access to funding for equipment may be available if he/she has a statement of special educational needs. For further information contact your local education authority.
If you are a student in higher education, you may be entitled to a disabled students' allowance. It is awarded by your local authority to cover the additional cost of your disability. If you are a student in further education, you may be entitled to funding through a scheme called the Access To Learning Fund scheme.
Charitable trusts may sometimes provide funding for equipment. Charities will only give awards in accordance with a predetermined criteria, so it is important that you carefully select the trusts you apply to.
Most libraries hold directories of suitable funders in their reference section, such as the The Directory of Grant Making Trusts.
The Grants for Individuals website is run by the Directory of Social Change and lets subscribers search for grants, but is intended for organisations searching for funding for individuals. AbilityNet publish a factsheet Funding for an Adapted Computer System which lists possible grant giving trusts. AbilityNet's factsheet also lists possible sources of second hand and refurbished computer equipment.


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The Nanga Mai Awards are an annual event organised by Aboriginal Education and Communities Directorate. The awards recognise and celebrate innovation, excellence and educational achievement in Aboriginal education in NSW public schools, school communities and department directorates.
The Premier's Spelling Bee is an annual competition that encourages primary school students in Years 3 to 6 to develop their spelling skills in a fun and educational way. Students are selected at school level to take part in regional finals. Regional winners then compete in the state final.
This Premier's Reading Challenge encourages students from Kindergarten to Year 9 to develop a love of reading and plays an important role in developing literacy.
The Premier's Debating Challenge is open to students from Year 5 to 12. Teams compete in a round robin series of debates against other schools. The winners go on to compete at regional and state level to determine the eventual state champion.
The Arts Unit offers public speaking competitions for NSW school students. Each competition is a great opportunity for students to develop their speech-writing and presentation skills while representing their schools in a state-wide competition.
The Premier's Anzac Memorial Scholarships are an opportunity to visit significant overseas sites associated with Australia's participation in war for Years 10 and 11 students in selected schools.
The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award - Australia provides an internationally recognised, self-development program for people aged 14 to 25. The program equips young people with the opportunity to undertake a variety of voluntary and challenging activities.
Our students can take advantage of several scholarship and award opportunities.
Darley Road
Manly NSW
telephone 02 9977 3066
We would like to pay our respects and acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land and also pay respect to Elders both past, present and emerging.
Copyright for this website is owned by the State of New South Wales through the Department of Education. For more information go to https://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/footer/copyright.

subset: commoncrawl


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Va. governor caps Chesapeake Bay menhaden harvest
Published 5:59 pm Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Monday imposed a cap on industrial fishing in the Chesapeake Bay of menhaden, a small, oily bait fish that filters pollutants from the water and provides hundreds of jobs on Virginia's Northern Neck.
The annual catch limit of 109,020 metric tons will last for five years, Kaine said. He said he expects the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to approve the cap when it meets Aug. 16.
The commission last year ordered the state to comply with a cap of about 106,000 metric tons by July 1 or face a possible federal ban on commercial netting of the fish in Virginia waters.
The General Assembly did not enact a cap, and Kaine's hands were tied by a law that only allows the governor to regulate the menhaden fishery when lawmakers are not in session or at least 30 days before menhaden season. The Legislature remained in session 30 days before the season began May 1.
"What to do about menhaden has been very controversial," the vacationing Kaine said in announcing the limit at First Landing State Park, where he was joined by industry, union and environmental group representatives. He said Virginia reached a consensus late last week that he thinks can be embraced by the commission, the industry and environmental groups.
Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. congratulated Kaine on his creativity in dealing with this issue, over which the two states have bickered for years.
"This fishery is absolutely essential to the long-term health of the bay," Ehrlich said by satellite from Sandy Point State Park, on the banks of the bay north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Annapolis.
Will Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, praised the cap as a "wonderful balance between conservation and commerce." The foundation is part of Menhaden Matter, a coalition of environmental and fishery groups.
Greenpeace, however, issued a statement saying Kaine devised a watered-down plan that pleases the industry but will do little to protect the Chesapeake ecosystem. "Governor Kaine's proposal is too little, too late for Chesapeake Bay," said John Hocevar, Greenpeace oceans specialist.
The limits are aimed at Houston-based Omega Protein Corp., which harvests the key bait for the region's blue crab fishery and employs more than 250 workers at its Reedville plant. The company processes menhaden into meals and oils for animal feeds and industrial purposes.
Menhaden is a food source for other fish in the bay, and Omega critics contend overharvesting of menhaden is stressing popular sports fish, such as striped bass.
Omega Protein supports Virginia's cap "because this gives us the opportunity to still remain in business, still remain viable," said Toby Gascon, Omega's director of government affairs.
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400, which represents about 120 members of menhaden crews, also supports the cap because it will save jobs, said Mark Federici, director of strategic programs.
Kaine said the limit announced Monday represents the average annual harvest from 2001 through 2005. The figure is slightly higher than the commission's cap because it is based on more recent data, Kaine said.
The program also gives the industry a credit for the year following a fishing season when catches fall below the cap, although credits would be limited so no harvest rises above 122,740 metric tons. There is no penalty for exceeding the limit, but Kaine said Omega has agreed to stop fishing when it reaches the quota.
The five-year cap would give scientists time to learn more about the bay's menhaden populations. Virginia and Omega Protein have agreed to collaborate on menhaden research, Kaine said.
Virginia is one of the last states that allows such industrialized fishing on the East Coast.
Maryland banned purse-seine industrial harvesting, which allows harvesting of massive schools of fish, in 1931, effectively ending fishing of menhaden in that state.
Maryland fishery managers believe Virginia's harvesting hurts species up the bay. That's why they've been pressuring Virginia for decades to limit its menhaden catch.
"Before they can make it up the bay to nourish rockfish (striped bass) and bluefish, they're being caught in Virginia," said Mike Slattery, assistant secretary for Maryland's Department of Natural Resources.
Virginia has disputed whether its fishing was hurting upper bay fish populations.


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I'm always interested in new ways of cooking pasta.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love fresh tomato sauce (I only use homemade) but pasta gives you so many possibilities that it's almost a sin not to try other sauces and ingredient combinations.
If you are in a hurry and have to put dinner together quickly, this is a really good recipe: you can take a shower while the peppers are roasting and boil the water/cook the pasta while they're cooling down.
The original recipe calls for feta, but I decided to use some delicious smoked ricotta I had in the fridge. The sweet flavor of the peppers played wonderfully with the saltiness of the cheese.
This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Astrid, from Paulchen's Food Blog.
Spaghetti with basil, smoked ricotta and roast bell peppers
adapted from Kitchen: The Best of the Best
4 red bell peppers
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
125g (4½ oz/1 bunch) basil
400g (14oz) spaghetti
150g (5½ oz) smoked ricotta (ricotta affumicata)
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. Rub the peppers with a little oil, slice them in half lengthways and put them, skin-side up, on a baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the skin blackens and blisters. Put the peppers in a plastic bag or bowl covered with plastic wrap, allow them to cool, then remove the skin and seeds. Put the pepper flesh into a blender with the vinegar ad 10 basil leaves, season and blend. Add the strained liquid from the baking dish (if there's any) and a little olive oil to make a sauce consistency. Put the sauce in a large saucepan over low heat to keep it warm.
Cook the spaghetti until it is al dente, then drain the pasta and add it to the warm pepper sauce. Crumble half the ricotta over the pasta and gently toss the ingredients together. Serve garnished with the remaining basil leaves and the rest of the ricotta crumbled on top.
Serves 4
Monday, December 10, 2007
Spaghetti with basil, smoked ricotta and roast bell pepper
32 comments:
- Peter M said...
That's a nifty spaghetti dish and I've never tried nor heard of smoked ricotta.
It'll be added to my food hunt list. - December 10, 2007
- MyKitchenInHalfCups said...
Looks and sounds totally beautiful Patricia. Pasta simply can take all the twists we can dish out! Smoked ricotta in place of feta, sounds refreshing, like that a lot!
- December 10, 2007
- Manggy said...
I think I may need something that healthy and flavorful right now :) I've always wanted to roast a red pepper on a gas burner, though. The oven is too safe haha! :)
- December 10, 2007
- T.W. Barritt at Culinary Types said...
Patricia - your pasta creations always make me hungry! This looks very colorful, and I like the interplay of smoked cheese and roasted peppers!
- December 10, 2007
- Graeme said...
Smoked Ricotta. I love it. Anything smoked next to Basil is great.
- December 10, 2007
- Wendy said...
Never heard of smoked ricotta. It sounds wonderful!
- December 10, 2007
- pam said...
Patricia, that looks fabulous. Though, I am sure I will never find smoked ricotta here.
- December 10, 2007
- test it comm said...
The roasted red pepper, basil and balsamic sauce sounds good. I will have to see if I can find some smoked ricotta.
- December 10, 2007
- Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...
I don't think I've ever had smoked ricotta, but I'm absolutely intrigued and will look for it at the wonderful Italian cheese store in Providence. Thanks for another yummy recipe!
- December 11, 2007
- Patricia Scarpin said...
Pete, thank you, my friend! I'm glad you like it.
Tanna, I bought the ricotta in the heat of the moment, so I needed to find something to use it in - good to know you liked my idea!
Mark, be careful! :)
T.W., you are far too kind, my dear friend. I'm glad it makes you hungry, that is a good sign!
Graeme, love smoked things too. :)
Wendy, it was the first time I tried it too, sweetie, and I loved it!
Pam, thank you! I thought I would never find it here either, it was a good surprise.
Kevin, if you don't, try the original recipe and use feta.
Lydia, I think it would be a good new ingredient for your beautiful and fabulous pantry. - December 11, 2007
- Chibog in Chief said...
simple and yet lots of delectable flavors on this pasta recipe..just like you i love adding roasted bell pepper on my pasta..will surely try this recipe!!
ps.i discovered your blog thru dessie of maybahay, great site.;i'll visit this often - December 11, 2007
- Cookie baker Lynn said...
That sounds heavenly. I've never heard of smoked ricotta before. I'll have to start searching. It's amazing all the new things I learn from you!
- December 11, 2007
- LizNoVeggieGirl said...
I agree - it IS practically a not to try other sauces, flavors, and ingredient combinations for pasta, since it's such a versatile dish!! your version look quite lovely!!
- December 11, 2007
- Bri said...
Yum! Sometimes the simplest dishes are the tastiest. I also haven't had smoked ricotta yet. Now I really want to try it. I can just imagine it's awesome with the roasted peppers and basil. Great suggestion!
- December 11, 2007
- Olivia said...
This looks so delicious! What a great way to spice up spaghetti. :)
One thing I've always had trouble with, though, is skinning baked peppers. Do you have any tips? - December 11, 2007
- Karin W. said...
I don´t like smoked cheese on my sandwiches, but I am sure that smoked ricotta goes very well with pasta dishes.
Somewhere I have read about a similiar dish. "Bucatini alla Norma": Long pasta tubes in a tomato-, -olive oil, -basil and aubergine sauce with fresh ricotta and smoked ricotta cheese shavings.
However, ricotta is rarely available in my food store. - December 11, 2007
- Kristen - Dine & Dish said...
Oh yum, Patricia! I am craving pasta tonight, but making pork chops instead. Wish I were at your house!
- December 11, 2007
- SteamyKitchen said...
i've never had smoked ricotta before - i don't think i've ever seen in stores either! will have to find it, b/c now i'm curious!
- December 12, 2007
- Africantapestry and Myfrenchkitchen said...
You're right...we can't play around enough with paste, seeing how much it lands on our tables. I love the combination of the smoked ricotta with the peppers here, never had it that way. It has to be tried!
Ronell - December 12, 2007
- Maggie said...
There's always something to learn from your foodblog Patricia. I've never heard of smoked ricotta before and will definitely look on the shelves next time I do a food shop.
- December 12, 2007
- Susan from Food Blogga said...
Where do you get smoked ricotta? I've never seen it before? Sounds great.
- December 12, 2007
- Julie said...
That looks delicious Patricia, I could eat dishes like that every day.
- December 12, 2007
- Deborah said...
This sounds heavenly!
- December 12, 2007
- desie said...
i love the sweetness of roasted peppers with cheese. this sounds great.
- December 12, 2007
- Cynthia said...
I've never tried pasta with roasted bell pepper sauce. Thanks for the idea.
- December 12, 2007
- Cris said...
This sounds delicious Patricia! Love basil and smoked ricotta.
- December 12, 2007
- Patricia Scarpin said...
Dhanggit, thank you for the visit, I appreciate it!
Lynn, I'm crazy for cheese. :)
And I learn a lot from you, too, dear!!
VeggieGirl, thank you for stopping by! And I'm glad you like the recipe!
Bri, I want to use this ricotta in other dishes, too.:)
Olivia, once I waited for them to cool down, it was a breeze to remove the skin. Just place them in a plastic bag, close it tight and wait. I thought it was going to be hard, but it wasn't!
Karin, I had gone to several grocery shops before finding it. It is not easy to find here, either, my friend. Maybe in the future.
I like the aubergine sauce idea.
Kristen, you are welcome to have dinner here anytime you want, sweetie!
Jaden, I was curious too! :)
Hi, Ronell! I do hope you like it if you give it a go. And thank you for stopping by!
Margaret, I'm glad you feel this way, my dear friend. Thank you.
Susan, I had to commute to buy it, dear. :)
I found it in a special food store in São Paulo.
Julie, thank you!
Deb, tks!!
Hey, sweetie, it was a good combination of flavors.
Cynthia, it was my first time, too. :)
Cris, basil is wonderful in just about anything, don't you think? - December 13, 2007
- ilingc said...
Sounds like a delightful dinner Patricia. I shall seek out some smoked ricotta and try it next time :)
- December 13, 2007
- City Muse said...
Ah, a recipe after my own heart. I love simple dishes like this. Thanks for sharing! I've bookmarked it to try later.
- December 14, 2007
- eatme_delicious said...
Ahh that looks so good! And it's almost lunch time. I wish I could reach into the computer and grab that food out.
- December 16, 2007
- Jade said...
This looks so delicious!
- December 18, 2007
- Kalyn Denny said...
Sounds very tasty. I also haven't heard of the smoked ricotta, but I'm sure it must taste wonderful!
- December 20, 2007


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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.
And I'm Robert Siegel.
The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing was moved today to a prison hospital outside Boston. Officials say Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is no longer cooperating with investigators. Some members of Congress, meanwhile, say the FBI should have heeded Russian warnings that Dzhokhar's elder brother had become a follower of radical Islam.
As NPR's Tom Gjelten reports, the failure to connect dots in a terrorism case is a criticism we've heard before.
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ANDREW LIEPMAN: Before this event, if someone had come to you and said, you know, the Russians have told us that this American, a legal permanent resident, Chechen nationality, has radical Islamic connections, we want you to do something about it. You know, the first thing that would have popped into your head was: The Russians are up to something.
GJELTEN: After all, the Russians for years have been on the lookout for Chechen separatists. What action counterterrorism officials will take in response to a tip about someone, Liepman says, depends on what that person has been alleged to do.
LIEPMAN: It's one thing to think radical thoughts. It's quite another to take that, mobilize and take violent action.
GJELTEN: The importance of distinguishing between thinking and acting is due, in part, to First Amendment rights. Philip Mudd, who worked for more than 25 years at the CIA and also at the FBI, notes law enforcement can't do anything about someone who says he hates the USA, or hates President Obama, or hates some federal judge.
PHILIP MUDD: Hatred is not a federal violation. Saying, you know, I think we ought to drive by the judge's house and take a look, then I'm going to say, game on. That suggests to me that you're considering taking an action against a federal officer.
GJELTEN: Looking at extremist websites is not illegal. Law enforcement officials are also limited by the resources and manpower they have available to carry out investigations. U.S. officials, defending what they did in response to the Russian tips about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, point out that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of individuals about whom they receive tips.
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MUDD: If he were the only guy in the lens, that's pretty interesting. But you've got to look at this in the context of the thousands and tens of thousands of investigations that go on in this country, many among people who look a lot uglier than this guy.
GJELTEN: This guy being Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The relevant comparisons here are to the cases of Nidal Hasan, the Army major who went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, and Umar Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up a civilian airliner over Detroit. Counterterrorism officials later acknowledged they had missed important signs about those two. But so far, at least, evidence that clues were missed in this case have not been found.
Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. In the coming months, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on two cases involving police dogs and the limits of reasonable search. Does the trained nose of a detector dog provide probable cause, and does a sniff from a front porch constitute an illegal search?
Both cases also raise questions about just how reliable these dogs, how they're trained and how they're used. If you work with dogs in law enforcement, call and tell us what works, what doesn't. 800-989-8255 is our phone number, the email address firstname.lastname@example.com. You can also join the conversation on our website. That's at npr.org. Click on TALK OF THE NATION.
Later in the program, we begin our Oscar Doc series with "Searching for Sugar Man." But first detector dogs. David Latimer is chief of police in Harpursville, Alabama, and runs FSI Canine Academy. He joins us by smartphone from his office Harpursville. Nice to have you with us. David, you there?
Well, we can hear him; apparently he can't hear us. So we'll try to contact him again. He's the chief of police in Harpursville, Alabama. He conducts seminars and training for dogs and their handlers across the country. David Latimer, are you there now?
DAVID LATIMER: Hello?
CONAN: Hi, you're on the air.
LATIMER: Oh, thank you.
CONAN: Welcome to the program. You not only conduct this training, you work with dogs in your day job. You have a dog you walk on the beat with.
LATIMER: Well, I don't do a lot of beat walking anymore. I'm a chief now. I have done a lot of beat walking.
CONAN: And what is it like when the dog's with you on a patrol like that? What goes through your head?
LATIMER: Well, it's like having a friend. I mean, especially a friend that can't talk back.
CONAN: And a friend who will always be loyal.
LATIMER: Will always be there and forgive you no matter what kind of mistake you make.
CONAN: And tell us a little bit about training of detector dogs. Are they trained for specific things?
LATIMER: They are trained for specific things, everything from detection of bedbugs to diabetes, the onset of diabetes, seizures or comas, narcotics, explosives, just about - you name it. If it's unique, has a unique odor, a dog can be trained to find it.
CONAN: And I've read that they can even be trained to discover cell phones in prison cells, that sort of thing.
LATIMER: That is correct, yes.
CONAN: What is the distinctive odor of a cell phone?
LATIMER: I don't know.
LATIMER: The dog knows, but I have no idea. But, you know, we don't know what the specific odor or specific constituent is in cocaine that a dog detects. We just know they can do it.
CONAN: They can do it. So obviously some things must be easier to detect than others.
LATIMER: Yes, absolutely. Some materials are more - produce more vapors or particulates than others. Gasoline, for example, for what's known as an arson dog is a fairly easy substance to detect because it's so volatile.
CONAN: And the dogs you worked with when you were on the beat, what were they trained to do?
LATIMER: Well, I worked with dogs on explosives, narcotics, evidence, cadaver search dogs.
CONAN: So that they would look for buried bodies.
LATIMER: Yes, sir. Well, not just buried bodies, evidence of a body, body fluids, body parts, not necessarily a whole body.
CONAN: And how does a dog signal to you that they've found something?
LATIMER: All my dogs are trained to perform what we call passive alert, in other words they sit when they detect an odor and then point directly at the source of that odor with their nose.
CONAN: And obviously the handler has to be trained, as well, I gather in part not to transmit to the dog some hints about what they might be looking for.
LATIMER: That's correct. They - that among several other things, but it is - the handler's training is just as important, just as indispensible as the dog's training, that's correct.
CONAN: And are these dogs always on leashes?
LATIMER: I'm sorry, are they what?
CONAN: Always on leashes?
LATIMER: No, no for example my search dog, I rarely ever put him on a leash, cadaver dogs the same way. I allow them to do what we call a free search. I just want them to follow their nose and take me to the odor of interest.
CONAN: And as some dogs better at this than other dogs? Are some dogs better at some things than other dogs?
LATIMER: Well, there's a perception out there that they are, but it's more of a misconception or a prejudicial view, if you will, that bloodhounds are the top-notch tracking dogs, or German shepherds are the top-notch narcotics dogs. Most any dog has the olfactory sense to make it capable of detecting the odors that we typically need to find.
But, you know, an animal that's great at detection, by the way, is a pig, but can you imagine a police officer leading a pig around a car?
CONAN: It might lead to a few unhappy comments.
LATIMER: Yeah.
CONAN: So where do you get these dogs?
LATIMER: We import dogs, but we get a lot of our dogs, especially for the private interests, we get them from shelters. They are just, it's really sad how many dogs, great dogs are available in shelters that are just kind of are throwaways, so to speak.
CONAN: And let's get another voice into the conversation, David Latimer, police chief and dog trainer Lawrence Myers, an associate professor of animal behavior and sensory physiology and medicine at Auburn University. He's conducted research on detector dogs for more than 30 years and joins us by Skype from Auburn. Nice to have you with us today.
LAWRENCE MYERS: Thank you very much.
CONAN: And what does your research show in terms of how accurate and reliable detector dogs are?
MYERS: That's a really general question that has a number of specific answers, I'm afraid. Some dogs can be extremely accurate and reliable while others have been proven not to be so at all. There's an enormous variability there.
CONAN: So it varies by individual, by breed, what?
MYERS: Not so much by breed, but - and I don't have enough numbers to give you a good answer on - in terms of the influence of the individual. We do know that type of training and type of maintenance training and health of the dog, all of these certainly have a significant impact on the reliability and accuracy.
CONAN: So the quality of the training obviously has an influence.
MYERS: Yes, it does.
CONAN: And so is there, for example, any good numbers on how often a narcotics dog, for example, comes up with a false positive?
MYERS: Not really. The numbers that are usually floated around deal with the number of alerts that a dog has out in the field versus how many times that alert resulted in finding actual narcotics. There's an - pardon me, an excuse made often when no narcotics are found that, well, narcotics mist have been there, and it's a lot of the handlers and trainers call residual odor. The chemicals that do remain after a narcotic has been present.
Now sometimes that true. You can demonstrate that. Now I can put a narcotic in a box for about a half an hour, take it away, and a trained dog will still come around and alert on that. So yes, that does happen. But how frequently it happens, that's the big unknown. So really it's the sort of thing that has to be studied in controlled conditions, and the numbers there are harder to get.
CONAN: And it is safe to say, though, dogs are hardly infallible.
MYERS: They are definitely not infallible. Even very good dogs make mistakes.
CONAN: Let's get some callers in on the conversation. We want to hear from those of you who have worked with dogs in law enforcement. What works? What doesn't? 800-989-8255. Email email@example.com. And Jim's(ph) on the line with us from Arcadia in California.
JIM: Yes, thank you for taking my call.
CONAN: Go ahead, please.
JIM: I've worked with a canine handler in law enforcement in training his dog and maintenance training with his dog. And one of the things that I've learned is there are dumb dogs just like there are dumb people, and there are intelligent dogs just like there are intelligent people. I mean, a lot of it has to do with training, but the quality of the training varies.
We were in a - I was working him as a city beat cop with his training, and we went to a competition with a bunch of state police, and his dog completely smoked all the state police dogs. I mean, he absolutely just walked all over these other law enforcement agents with their dogs, and...
CONAN: What was the competition like? Tell us a little bit about it.
JIM: Well, there was a tracking competition, there was a - there was a narcotics, or drugs, if you will. There was explosives. There was an obstacle course. There was just basically crowd control, obedience during crowd control, all these different competitions. And it was just absolutely amazing to watch this dog that I had worked with and been a part of.
I wasn't the actual trainer, but I was helping and just, you know, absolutely just smoke everybody in the competition on this. You know, it was basically supposed to be a display for government officials and for upper law enforcement, and it was really incredible to see the variance and the difference in abilities of supposedly professional handlers and their animals.
CONAN: David Latimer, does that make sense to you?
LATIMER: It does. I only disagree with one thing Jim said, about some dogs being dumb. Dogs know basically what they're taught, and a dog's - dogs are just like people. They have different levels of drives an initiatives, so to speak. And typically when I found a dog that was imputed as being dumb, it turned out that dog really understand what was being required of him.
But I have seen the kind of situations that Jim describes, where somebody kind of comes out of nowhere, so to speak, and smokes a lot of the supposed professional dogs.
CONAN: Jim, do you still work with dogs?
JIM: No, well, I work with dogs on an informal basis now. I'll train my friends' dogs with obedience and various things, but, you know, not so much the law enforcement part of it anymore.
CONAN: Well, thanks very much for the phone call, appreciate it. That was interesting.
JIM: Thank you.
CONAN: After a short break, we'll hear a little bit more about two detector dogs with cases before the high court, Franky and Aldo. If you work with dogs in law enforcement, call and tell us what works, what doesn't, 800-989-8255. Email us, email@example.com. We'll be back in a minute. Stay with us. I'm Neal Conan. It's the TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.
CONAN: This is TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. I'm Neal Conan. With two cases before the Supreme Court featuring the work of drug-sniffing dogs, we thought we'd talk today about the animals themselves; how they're selected, how they're trained and the legal limits on the work they do. Specifically, though, the two dogs in question are Franky and Aldo.
Franky the dog who was walked up to the front porch of a private residence is a kind of rockstar dog. He's a chocolate lab. His record for drug detection is near perfect. Aldo, ah, that's another story. He's a German shepherd who sniffed out ingredients used to make meth stashed in a truck outside Tallahassee, but the Florida Supreme Court threw out the conviction based on his find.
Aldo did not have a record of reliable contraband detection. So his alert was suspect. If you're in law enforcement and work with dogs, call and tell us what works, what doesn't, 800-989-8255. Email us, email@example.com. You can also join the conversation on our website. That's at npr.org. Click on TALK OF THE NATION.
Police chief and dog trainer David Latimer and Lawrence Myers of Auburn University are our guests. And Larry Myers, can I turned to you? In your research, do some breeds do better than others?
MYERS: Actually, if I just look at sense of smell, which is something I did for some years, measuring how well they smell - and I probably tested upwards of 4,000 dogs total - there was so much variability within a breed. So we have one German shepherd that has a fantastically acute sense of smell, and we have another that, well, it...
MYERS: ...it gets laughable. They vary all over the place within a breed. So you really can't pick a breed, at least in my experience and my research.
CONAN: And have you found in your research that some methods of training work better than others?
MYERS: I am hesitate to state anything very definitively there. But what's being shown so far is that there are many ways that you can effectively train an animal. Some of the really critical things seem to be how you test it and how you maintain that training.
For instance, there's two situations, one is called a double-blind, one is called a single-blind. Both require more than one person. You find a situation where a lot of dog handlers are out there on their own with no help. So they place things out for the dog to find themselves. They already know where it is. That's not blinded at all.
Unfortunately, those dogs seem to have a greater problem than dogs that are trained and tested by placing things out by someone else, where the handler doesn't know where it is.
CONAN: Oh, because the handler then sort of tips off to the dog if he set out - hid the stuff, he knows where it is.
MYERS: That's right, and in many cases it appears not to be at all intentional. Dogs pay a lot of attention to our behavior. If you look at something for just a little bit longer than something else, the dog almost always will go over and investigate that.
CONAN: I see. Lewis Katz is the John C. Hutchins professor of law at Case Western Reserve School of Law, where he writes about the legal issues surrounding the use of detector dogs. He joins us now by phone from his office in Cleveland. Nice to have you with us.
LEWIS KATZ: Thank you for having me.
CONAN: And there is some history in Supreme Court decisions that the alert of a detector dog constitutes probable cause.
KATZ: Yes, in 1981, the Supreme Court said that a dog's sniff is not a search. It wasn't essentially to the decision in that case, but it has been the basis for thousands of decisions since 1981 upholding police use of dog sniffs in various contexts without prior judicial approval or without any scrutiny as to why they're targeting the individual.
CONAN: And have there been restrictions placed on that subsequently.
KATZ: Certainly not at the Supreme Court level, which is why these two cases pending this year are extremely interesting and crucial.
CONAN: One involves a car and one involves a private house, and I gather those are viewed rather differently.
KATZ: Well, I hope so, but that's anticipating how the court may act. Ordinarily the court says that a home is entitled to the greatest Fourth Amendment protection, and the court has said in the last 10 years that the use of any technology on a home, such as in that particular case a thermal imager capturing heat waste from the home, constituted a search, which required a warrant issued by probable cause.
CONAN: They were looking for the heat signature of somebody in a grow house. You're obviously using a lot of heat lamps to grow the marijuana.
KATZ: Yeah, but incidentally and often lost is the fact that they were using it on the whole neighborhood.
CONAN: So it was, in other words, look at not just a place where they might have some suspicion - not apparently enough to get a warrant in advance - but at the whole neighborhood so if somebody else's house had come up, they would've been busted too.
KATZ: Presumably they would have done so, yes.
CONAN: And as you look at the situation of a car, why is that considered different?
KATZ: Well, the court has said that there is a lesser expectation of privacy in an automobile, and therefore the court has said that any validly stopped automobile or a parked car may be subject to a canine sniff without any oversight as to why they're targeting an individual car.
Obviously they can't bring the dogs around every time they stop a car. So the question arises, why should they target this particular individual. But under existing law, the police don't need to present that justification.
CONAN: Larry Myers, let me ask you, are experts on dogs and their ability to smell, olfactory senses, are people like you ever asked to testify before judges to say how good or bad a dog might be?
MYERS: Yes, frequently, actually, not just me but there are a few others, a few scientists who study this sort of thing and certainly a number of current and retired handlers and trainers are found in courts on these cases.
CONAN: What kind of questions do you get asked?
MYERS: Well, usually questions that can't be answered definitively one way or the other.
MYERS: How good is this dog? How good is this handler? And the best that you can actually do is look at the records and any video recordings that might be available, that sort of thing, and make a general assessment. But without actually testing that team objectively, which is rarely allowed, I can't make a definitive statement, I can simply state that this individual has met the more or less reigning standard, or this individual has not. And it's based largely on the records of that team.
CONAN: And Lewis Katz, let me ask you: What constitutes probable in the probable cause thing? If a dog is right, say, 50 percent of the time, is that probable cause?
KATZ: I should think not. A dog that is correct 50 percent of the time means that there are 50 percent false alerts. And I raise the question whether that is adequate probable cause. But I think equally important is the question before that, which the police don't need to answer now. Why did you alert - why did you use a drug dog in this particular situation?
You know, it doesn't only apply to cars and houses. Drug dogs are used in some schools to sniff around children, see if the child is carrying an illegal drug or a prescription drug.
CONAN: Or their lockers, presumably.
KATZ: Well certainly lockers and automobiles. I think it's really significant, and many school districts don't do it; to use a dog on a child, considering the child may be afraid of dogs or any other number of situations.
CONAN: Let's get a caller in on this. Randy's with us calling from San Francisco.
RANDY: Yes, hi Neal.
CONAN: Hi.
RANDY: I'm an attorney. I do litigate these issues in terms of dogs and probable cause. I was wondering if your panel wanted to address - there was a study done at UC Davis that involved 16 teams. Half of them were for narcotics detections, half of them were for explosive detection. They used a brand-new church to avoid the residual odor problem.
The study was explained to the participants that they were going to use noise and other distracting devices to see how the dogs functioned. They had eight rooms. Each of the 16 teams was to go through the eight rooms. Two gentlemen showed up with attache cases handcuffed to their wrist. One had a pound of C4 explosives. The other had a pound of cocaine. All 16 teams went through eight rooms. All 16 teams identified at least one location in which the dogs alerted.
When the study was over, they asked the person running the study, doctor, how did we do? And she told them that they had not planted any cocaine or any explosives in any of the rooms. What the study was really testing was the fact that the handlers - and these were top handlers from all over the country - were involuntarily cueing their dogs based upon their expectance to find the contraband due to the setup of the experiment.
CONAN: And...
RANDY: And this raises a specter that without proper training, dogs are involuntarily responding to their masters and really rubber-stamping their masters' intuition, which is a traffic officer making a stop and then becoming suspicious.
CONAN: Larry Myers, are you familiar with that case, that test, and is it definitive?
MYERS: That was - I think - I believe all of those were actually narcotic detection dogs. If it's what I'm thinking of, that was by Lisa Lit in April 2011. And there were 18 teams. Seventeen of them ended up with more than an aggregate of 200 false alerts between them. One team, in fact, did not false-alert at all, suggesting, one, certain training and certain handling can work, but it also suggests that dogs are exceptionally well attuned to the behavior of their handler.
It's interesting that that happened 100 years after a similar thing had been seen with a horse called Clever Hans. That was first published in 1911, so we've known about that principle for a long time.
CONAN: Yeah. Clever Hans could solve mathematical problems that were unconsciously tipped to him by his handlers.
MYERS: Right, right. And dogs are the same.
CONAN: Dogs are the same. And, David Latimer, how do you correct for that in training?
LATIMER: You correct for that by doing double-blind training and testing.
CONAN: And maintenance as well.
LATIMER: And maintenance as well. And the important thing about that study is, as Larry mentioned, there was one dog that performed no false alerts. There was another dog team that performed very few false alerts. So just don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, in other words. If we handle this properly, dogs are very important and useful to the law enforcement.
CONAN: But, Lewis Katz, clearly this has to be treated with some skepticism.
KATZ: I agree. I'm not sure the science is as precise as we might like. And the dog - in many courts, the handler is - handler's word that the dog alerted is simply accepted by judges as the basis for probable cause, rather than inquiring as to different kinds of alerts. And, you know, sometimes a dog wagging its tail, in some of the cases, has been indicated as a positive alert. So I think we have problems there, as well. It's not just the science. It's how the courts react to what they're told.
CONAN: Randy, thanks very much for the call. Appreciate it.
RANDY: All right.
LATIMER: Can I add something here?
CONAN: Quickly if you can.
LATIMER: It's not the science, however. It's the courts, more of the problem, than it is the science. Science is solid behind dogs being able to detect odors.
CONAN: It's the courts being...
LATIMER: Courts are not being - are not educated enough to ask the right questions and perform the right kind of testing in a - such as a Daubert kind of challenge.
CONAN: We're talking about detector dogs. You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. You just heard David Latimer, police chief and dog trainer in Harpersville, Alabama. Lawrence Myers is also with us, associate professor of animal behavior and sensory physiology and medicine at Auburn University. And Lewis Katz, John C. Hutchins professor of law at Case Western Reserve School of Law in Cleveland.
And let's see if we can get another caller in on the conversation. Let's go to Greg(ph), Greg with us from North Park in Colorado.
GREG: Yes. Hello.
CONAN: Hi.
GREG: Well, I just wanted to - I'm a little bit off-subject here. I'm not - I don't train law enforcement detector dogs, but I train dogs for conservation work. And I just wanted to kind of throw that out there as something with very similar methods to what the law enforcement use, but we use them for things like in wildlife research.
For instance, I just finished a cougar scat study in Northeast Oregon where we - the dogs found the scat. We collected the scat, got DNA from the scat, and we're able to do population estimates from that. But they've been used from everything from desert tortoises to different types of scat - whale scat, believe it or not, and quite a few nesting birds, ground-nesting birds. There's been quite a few applications in conservation work with dogs.
CONAN: Excuse me. Whale scat?
GREG: Whale scat, yeah, believe it or not. So whale scat floats, and they had the dogs on the front of a boat, and the dog would basically point with his nose to which way the smell was coming from, and the boat driver would point the boat that way, and they would eventually find where the whale scat was, yeah.
CONAN: You learn something new every day.
GREG: Every day. Yup. It's pretty phenomenal what they can do.
CONAN: Thanks very much for the call, Greg. Appreciate it.
GREG: You bet. You bet.
CONAN: And we just have a minute or so left, but, Lewis Katz, as you look forward to this decision by the Supreme Court in these two cases, do you expect that we'll see some limitations - or could we see some limitations - on that estimate that an alert by a detector dog constitutes probable cause?
KATZ: Well, I think the issue may be that the court says walking a drug dog around a home constitutes as search, and therefore the police have to get prior approval from a judge in the form of a warrant. And I think that would be a major step, because under the laws that exist now, and if they don't rule that way, police can - and they may not do it often, but they could - walk a drug dog through apartment corridors just checking on every apartment on the floor. And I think the room for abuse is too great here and are adherence to Fourth Amendment values in protecting our homes is sufficiently important that I think the court may draw the line there.
CONAN: Well, Lewis Katz thanks very much for your time today.
KATZ: Thank you.
LATIMER: I agree with Lewis on that point, by the way. Our Fourth Amendment are important. However, one thing I disagree with him, I have never searched or have I ever seen anybody search, a child with a dog. That's a new one on me.
CONAN: And that's David Latimer. Thank you very much for time today.
LATIMER: Sure.
CONAN: And Larry Myers. We thank you for speaking with us as well.
MYERS: Appreciate being here. Thank you.
CONAN: And we'll await the Supreme Court decision coming up some time in the next few months. After a short break, though, we'll launch this year's series of conversations with the people behind the Oscar-nominated feature documentaries. First up, "Searching for Sugar Man." Stay with us. I'm Neal Conan. It's the TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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If the models differ on any given day and one says strong winds while the other says low winds then there is little consensus and therefor lower confidence in an accurate forecast on that day.
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