Aims: This study is purposed on informing future trade policy decisions on how the fresh pineapple export industry of Ghana can be revitalized following declines in both volumes and value of exports since the year 2004. To achieve this, effort is made to identify and assess the magnitude and effects of key determinants of fresh pineapple exports from Ghana for the period 1984-2009 Study Design: The study involves separate consideration of value and volume of exports as explained variables, and sourcing of ways by which beneficial implications noted could be maximized for both variables, while minimizing adverse ones in the process. Place and Duration of Study: This study solely involves the use of secondary data and own-computations on volume and value of pineapple exports, production, domestic demand, export price faced by exporters, terms of trade index of exports, real effective exchange rate, comparative export performance index and net inflow of foreign direct investment Methodology: Separate regression with value and volumes of exports as explained variables were estimated with the Ordinary Least Squares estimator, and tested for appropriate standard Gaussian assumptions, appropriateness of specification and stability of coefficients Original Research Article

Submarine canyons support high biomass communities as they act as conduits where sediments, nutrients, and organic matter from continental shelves, or those that are carried along by slope currents, are transported into the abyssal zone. The Porcupine Bank Canyon (PBC), located on the Irish continental margin and isolated from terrigenous inputs, reveals a complex terrain and substrate variation that affect the distribution of benthic fauna. Here, ROV-based benthic video, conductivity-temperaturedepth (CTD), current velocity profiles, suspended particulate organic matter (POM) and bathymetric data were assessed to determine the controls on the distribution of benthic megafauna throughout the canyon. Multivariate analysis of the benthic community reveals significant differences in community structure among habitats and site locations throughout the canyon. Furthermore, these results show that non-reef habitats exhibit more variation in the composition of benthic taxa than coral reef and rubble habitats, with the following species contributing most to the structural differentiation between habitats: Leiopathes glaberrima (12.46%), Hexadella dedritifera (10.37%), Cidaris cidaris (9.31%), Aphrocallistes beatrix (9.33%), Araeosoma fenestratum (9.11%), Stichopathes cf. abyssicola (7.39%), Anthomastus grandiflorus (4.66%), and Benthogone rosea (3.84%). In addition, greater diversity, taxa evenness and high abundance of motile fauna were observed in non-reef habitat and the canyon flank. Seabed terrain features (depth, slope) are the most important environmental drivers that affect benthic taxa distribution while site locations and habitat type are the categorical variables that influence taxa distribution in the PBC. The highest mean current speed was observed on the canyon flank where the highest Shannon's diversity was recorded while mean current speed ranged from 18.2-31.3 cm s −1. As the PBC is cut off from direct terrigenous input, this research contributes to understanding cold-water coral habitat responses to natural

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