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Lines outside beach badge booths up and down the Jersey Shore are starting to get longer. But will any towns be limiting tag sales again this summer to help control crowds, even as the coronavirus pandemic slows down in New Jersey?

Last year, the Gov. Phil Murphy ordered capacity limits and social distancing on beaches and lakefronts across the Garden State, but left it up to local leaders to decide how to enforce those broad rules, whether it be restricting the sale of passes or closing access points temporarily.

With most mask requirements and most gathering limits being eliminated, many local officials say they wont impose caps on beach passes, and will simply keep an eye on crowd sizes.

Friends and families will do what makes them comfortable and self-police in regards to social distancing and crowd control, said Ventnor Business Manager Maria Mento. Although not anticipated, if there are any issues, our police are always available to assist.

But a few towns remain undecided about limiting beach passes, while waiting to see how the summer plays out. Belmar even plans to again use drones to get an aerial view of how crowded beaches are getting.

The Borough has not made a decision on whether it will limit daily badge sales, said Manasquan Business Administrator Amy Spera. We will be closely monitoring the crowd and if we feel there is a safety need to do so we will and will make an announcement at that time. We will continue to monitor crowd sizes at individual beach entrances and if we feel a beach is getting too crowded we may close the entrance and direct visitors to another entrance.

Below is a list of each towns plans for this season. And here, youll find how much a beach badge costs in every Shore town.

Daily beach tags will be limited based on capacity and at the beach managers discretion.

Not limiting daily badges unless crowd sizes are too high. Ending sales will be a day-by-day decision.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

No decision yet on limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Daily beach tags will only be sold on the online through a company called WRSTBND this year, so the town can easily monitor the number of visitors. The town will likely cut off sales around 7,500 and 8,000 daily passes, but it will be a day-to-day decision. Drones will be used to monitor social distancing and shut down overcrowded areas of the beach.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

No decision yet on limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales. The township will have beach staff, crossing guards and seasonal, special law enforcement officers present at its beaches to handle whatever circumstances occur each day.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales. The town will temporarily discontinue daily badge sales if the beach becomes so overcrowded that it affects safety a move they only made three times last summer.

Not limiting beach tag sales, but social distancing will be encouraged.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

No decision yet on limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales, but officers on the beach will encourage people to spread out.

Not limiting beach tag sales. (Margate only sells season passes).

Not limiting beach tag sales

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Point Pleasant and Jenkinsons boardwalk will not limit beach tag sales, but will monitor crowds and make a judgement call, the mayor said.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

No decision yet on limiting beach tag sales.

The beach control department will be monitoring crowds and shut down daily tag sales if capacity is reached.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales.

Not limiting beach tag sales. (Ventnor only sells season passes).

Note: Monmouth Beach, Longport and Ocean Grove did not respond to requests for comment. Atlantic City and the Wildwood beaches are free.

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Avalon Zoppo may be reached at azoppo2@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AvalonZoppo.

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Will Jersey Shore towns limit beach tag sales this summer? Heres what theyre saying. - NJ.com

Dublin, May 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Precision Aquaculture Market with COVID-19 Impact Analysis by System Type (Feeding Systems, Monitoring & Control, Underwater ROVs), Offering (Hardware, Software, Services), Farm Type (Cage-based, RAS), Application, and Geography - Forecast to 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global precision aquaculture market is estimated to grow from USD 407 million in 2021 to USD 794 million by 2026; at a CAGR of 14.3%.

Precision aquaculture technology has the potential to transform the aquaculture industry, making traditional aquaculture activities more efficient and economical.

The growth of the precision aquaculture market is driven by factors such as growing investments in technological research and product innovation, the surging adoption of advanced technologies such as IoT, ROVs, and AI for the real-time monitoring of aquaculture farms, the rising demand for protein-rich aqua food, and increasing support by worldwide governments for infrastructure development in aquaculture.

RAS-based aquaculture farm to register higher CAGR during the forecast period

The precision aquaculture market for RAS-based aquaculture farms is projected to register the higher CAGR during the forecast period, by aquaculture farm type. The market for RAS-based aquaculture farms is expected to grow at a higher rate during the forecast period. Currently, RAS-based aquaculture farms constitute around 5% to 8% of the total farms in the world, which is expected to reach ~30% by 2030 (As per the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations). Growing awareness about the benefits of RAS-based aquaculture farming such as the requirement for less water as compared to conventional systems and environment-friendly systems is fueling the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Feed optimization is estimated to hold the largest share of the market during forecast period

The feed optimization segment of the precision aquaculture market is estimated to register largest market share in 2026, by application. Factors contributing toward the predominance of feed optimization application over others are the increasing adoption of advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning in aquaculture equipment and tools, and the growing demand for protein-rich aqua food.

Underwater remotely-operated vehicles to register higher CAGR during the forecast period

The precision aquaculture market for underwater remotely-operated vehicles is projected to register the higher CAGR during the forecast period, by system type. The adoption trend of underwater ROVs in Western Europe and North America has gained significant traction in recent years. Currently, countries such as the US, Canada, Norway, and Chile account for more than 60% of the installed base of underwater ROVs.

Hardware is estimated to hold the largest share of the market during forecast period

The hardware segment of the precision aquaculture market is estimated to register largest market share in 2026, by offering. Hardware components such as sensors, monitoring and control devices, smart feeding systems, underwater remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs), and climate control systems are expected to continue to account for the largest market share during the forecast year owing to the high adoption of automated aquaculture farm monitoring devices by aquaculture farm owners for increasing farm productivity and the efficient management of the farm.

South America is projected to become the fastest geographical market between 2021 and 2026

South America is expected to witness the highest CAGR in the precision aquaculture market during the forecast period due to the increasing adoption of automated solutions including underwater ROVs and smart camera systems in aquaculture farms and the growing focus on the deployment of IoT-based monitoring devices in aquaculture farms owing to various advantages such as increased productivity and the early detection of diseases among aquatic species offered by these monitoring devices.

The precision aquaculture market is dominated by a few established players such as AKVA group (Norway), InnovaSea Systems (US), Steinsvik (ScaleAQ) (Norway), Deep Trekker (Canada), Aquabyte (US), and Eruvaka Technologies (India).

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights4.1 Surging Adoption of Advanced Technologies such as IoT, ROVs, and AI in Aquaculture Farms4.2 China and Monitoring & Control Systems to be Largest Shareholders of Precision Aquaculture Market in Asia-Pacific, by Country and System Type, Respectively, in 20204.3 Farm Monitoring & Surveillance Application to Hold Largest Share of Precision Aquaculture Market in 20264.4 Hardware Segment to Dominate Precision Aquaculture Market in Terms of Size During Forecast Period4.5 Open Aquaculture Farms to Account for Larger Market Share Between 2021 and 20264.6 Americas to Gain Significant Market Share of Global Precision Aquaculture Market by 2026

5 Market Overview5.1 Market Dynamics5.1.1 Drivers5.1.1.1 Surging Adoption of Advanced Technologies such as IoT, ROVs, and AI for Real-Time Monitoring of Aquaculture Farms5.1.1.2 Growing Investments in Technological Research and Product Innovations5.1.1.3 Rising Income Levels and Demand for Protein-Rich Aqua Food5.1.1.4 Increasing Government Support Worldwide for Freshwater Aquaculture Production5.1.2 Restraints5.1.2.1 High Upfront Costs and Capital Expenditure5.1.2.2 Need for Skilled Operators for Effective Management of Complex Systems5.1.2.3 Lack of Technological Awareness Among Aquaculture Farmers5.1.3 Opportunities5.1.3.1 Surging Adoption of Aquaculture Monitoring and Feed Optimization Devices in Developing Countries5.1.3.2 Increasing Number of Cage-based Farms in Developing Regions Such as India, China, and South-East Asian Countries5.1.3.3 Growing Popularity of Land-Based Recirculating Aquaculture Systems5.1.4 Challenges5.1.4.1 Environmental Concerns due to Extensive Aquaculture Farming5.1.4.2 Lack of Common Information Management System Platform in Aquaculture Industry

6 Industry Trends6.1 Value Chain Analysis6.1.1 Major Market Players in Precision Aquaculture Market6.2 Industry Trends6.2.1 Advent of AI, AR/VR, and Blockchain in Aquaculture to Accelerate Market Growth6.2.2 Use of Farm Automation Solutions, Remotely-Operated Vehicles, and Feeding Robots to Reduce Labor Costs6.2.3 Adoption of Robotic Cages and Underwater Drones in Aquaculture Farms6.3 Pricing Analysis: Average Selling Price (ASP) Trends6.4 List of Key Patents and Innovations in Precision Aquaculture Market, 2015-20206.5 Trade Data6.6 Case Studies: Precision Aquaculture Market6.6.1 Introduction6.6.2 Open Blue: Innovasea Helps Open Blue Become Largest Open Ocean Fish Farm in World6.6.3 Earth Ocean Farms: Innovasea Enables Earth Ocean Farms to Expand Production with Rugged Evolution Pens6.6.4 Erko Seafood AS: With AKVA Group's Expertise and Quick Service, Erko Seafood as Found Real Deal6.6.5 Vermont Hatchery: Vermont Hatchery Saves Millions in Energy Costs with Innovasea-Designed Recirculating Aquaculture System6.6.6 The Kingfish Company: With Philips Lighting, the Kingfish Zeeland Fishery Aims to Obtain Sustainable Production of Premium Marine Seafood6.6.7 Gifas: Philips Led Solutions Offer New Possibilities for Salmon Industry6.6.8 Lingalaks: Philips Led Lighting Helps in Preventing Sea Lice in Salmon Production6.7 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

Companies Mentioned

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/og9cf0

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Global Precision Aquaculture Market Forecast to 2026: Surging Adoption of Advanced Technologies such as IoT, ROVs - GlobeNewswire

The Congress on Wednesday said dictatorial regimes would blush at the brazenness with which the Narendra Modi government was trying to crush citizens freedom by enforcing new rules for social media that have invited allegations of political censorship.

Messaging platforms will be required to provide access to encrypted messages, which would break privacy protections. On Wednesday, WhatsApp filed a lawsuit in Delhi High Court challenging the new digital rules.

According to the new rules, the three-month deadline for compliance with which ended on Wednesday, social media platforms operating in India would have to appoint a resident grievance officer, a chief compliance officer and a nodal contact person. The rules require large social media platforms those with more than 50 lakh registered users such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to do additional due diligence. The platforms will also now be required to have a physical contact address in India.

Arguing that the Modi government should be the new go-to place for all dictators to hone their skills in controlling free speech and thought, Congress spokesperson and constitutional lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the new rules struck at the concept of encryption, which is the technological backbone of privacy.

This is particularly true of messaging apps, the most important subset of social media and digital platforms, he said.

Singhvi said the committee that would monitor content would become the Big Daddy of control, acting like social media police, a digital thana working under the information technology ministry.

His argument was that giving such powers to a regime that slapped sedition charges on people speaking about oxygen crisis during the pandemic, arrested people for putting up posters critical of the Prime Minister and hauled up journalists for negative coverage would strangulate free speech.

Lamenting that the government had refused to modify the rules despite unanimous condemnation from all segments of civil and political society, Singhvi said: The heart and soul of their highly objectionable approach was reflected in Rule 4, which obliges all social media platforms to identify the first originator of the information (in a message) if so directed by the government.

This introduces the requirement of traceability that would break end-to-end encryption. It should be noted that even previous proposals that seek to implement traceability in a manner which is supposedly compatible with end-to-end encryption have been shown to be vulnerable to spoofing where bad actors can falsely modify the originator information to frame an innocent person.

Singhvi said the grounds for such directions had deliberately been kept vague. The rules says that the government may ask social media platforms for the originator of a message for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of an offence related to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order.

Singhvi said: Under Clause 3 (d), all platforms have to remove any content deemed objectionable by an application, not by any court, but by the ministry (with) such broad thresholds. Under Clause 3(b) (i), the government can command the platform to remove any data on the basis of such utterly broad words like belongs to another person and to which the user does not have any right. WhatsApp forwards of research or analysis to groups could be stopped under this deliberately overbroad definition.

Pointing out that countless sedition cases had been initiated against citizens for criticising the Prime Minister, Singhvi said: Any infraction of the rules would take away the protection given by the parent act, which exempts the intermediary social media platforms from direct punishment and consequently, any mischievous application would directly make the social media platform liable for third-party content over which they have no control. The government has forgotten all the safeguards and protections accorded to social media in the landmark Shreya Singhal case.

The Congress leader asserted that the rules also violate the principles of privacy elaborated in the Puttaswamy judgment of a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court in 2017. The court had held that the right to privacy is protected as a fundamental right under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

If this Big Daddy does not agree with the self-regulation done by the social media platform itself at Level-1 or disagrees with the decision of the self-regulation institutional body at Level-2, Rules 13 and 14 allow an inter-departmental government committee to make recommendations overruling the Level-1 and Level-2 decisions, exercising direct content censorship and empowering itself to direct that content of any person or sender or publisher to be blocked, Singhvi said.

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Congress: Modi government trying to crush citizens freedom - Telegraph India

The officers from Indias elite antiterrorism police unit descended after dusk on the New Delhi offices of Twitter, with television news cameras in tow. Their mission: Start an argument over fake news.

The offices sat empty, closed amid Indias devastating coronavirus outbreak. And the police acknowledged that they were there to deliver nothing more legally binding than a notice disputing a warning label that Twitter had assigned to some tweets.

But symbolically, the visit by the police on Monday night sent a clear message that Indias powerful ruling party is becoming increasingly upset with Twitter because of the perception that the company has sided with critics of the government. As anger has risen across the country over Indias stumbling response to the pandemic, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party have struggled to control the narrative.

As a result, top Indian political leaders have applied increasing pressure on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms that people are using to air their complaints. In doing so, they are following the path of some other countries trying to control how and where messages can spread on social media. In March, for example, the Russian government said it would slow access to Twitter, one of the few places where Russians openly criticize the government.

The police visit illustrates the extent to which state machinery can be instrumentalized by the party in power to curb opposing voices and mishandle the opposition, said Gilles Verniers, a professor of political science at Ashoka University near New Delhi.

Regardless of the clumsy manner in which it was conducted, this raid is an escalation in the stifling of domestic criticism in India, he said.

For example, the police visit was set off by labels that Twitter applied to tweets posted by senior members of the party, called the B.J.P.

Party leaders posted documents that they called irrefutable proof that opposition politicians had planned to use Indias stumbling coronavirus response to tar Mr. Modi and Indias reputation itself.

But Twitter undercut that campaign when it labeled the posts manipulated media. Indian disinformation watchdog groups had said the documents were forged.

In going after Twitter, the B.J.P. focused on one of the main ways people in India pleaded for help as infections began to soar in April and people began to die by the thousands per day. Hospital beds, medicine and supplemental oxygen became precious commodities. Online networks sprang up on Twitter and other social media platforms for volunteers to connect desperate patients with supplies.

The second wave of the coronavirus reached a peak on May 6 414,188 fresh infections. Since then, cases have fallen by nearly half, but the overall death toll, 303,720, continues to rise.

The B.J.P. is no slouch at social media. Under Mr. Modi, it has used social media to spectacular effect, pushing its Hindu nationalist agenda to far corners of the country and to denigrate its opponents.

But as dissenting voices rise, and the B.J.P.s tolerance for dissent grows short, it has used harsher tactics to rein the platforms in.

This month, the government ordered social media platforms, including Twitter, to take down dozens of posts critical of the governments handling of the pandemic.

In February, as a farmer-led protest against agriculture changes captured the public imagination, the company acquiesced to government demands and blocked the accounts of 500 people accused of making inflammatory remarks about Mr. Modi.

Last summer, India banned TikTok, WeChat and dozens of other Chinese apps, citing national security concerns.

Though Mr. Modis government controls the Delhi police, it was not clear on Tuesday that the failed mission at the Twitter office had happened at its behest.

Understand the Covid Crisis in India

A B.J.P. spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Twitter spokeswoman asked for questions in an email, which went unanswered.

On May 18, a B.J.P. spokesman, Sambit Patra, tweeted the picture of a document he described as plans by the Indian National Congress, the main opposition party, for making the government look bad.

Mr. Patras message was retweeted more than 5,000 times, including by ministers in Mr. Modis government and party leaders.

Harsh Vardhan, Indias health minister, used the hashtag #CongressToolkitExposed to rip into the opposition party.

Its deplorable on their part to attempt to spread misinformation during this global catastrophe just to swell their dwindling political fortunes at the expense of peoples suffering, Dr. Vardhan tweeted.

Except that the plans were fake, doctored on old letterhead, said independent fact-checking organizations and the Congress Party, which filed a police report against Mr. Patra and another B.J.P. leader. Last Thursday, Twitter stepped in, labeling the tweet manipulated media and provoking the ire of government supporters who demanded that the Indian government ban the company.

Many blame the disaster that India is experiencing now on government hubris. While cases were rising in March, Mr. Modi was campaigning for state elections. His government signed off on a religious festival that drew millions of Hindus to the Ganges River banks.

Mr. Modi, who gave regular, rousing national addresses during the first wave of cases, has become less visible during the second wave. Many Indians feel abandoned. With local pandemic lockdowns still in place, rather than take to the streets, protesters are confined to social media.

That space is becoming ever smaller, digital rights advocates and public interest lawyers said.

Last month, while the number of virus infections and deaths skyrocketed, at least 25 people were arrested after hanging posters in Delhi that questioned Indias decision to export vaccines abroad.

The posters were made by the ruling party in Delhi, another party in opposition to the B.J.P., according to a party member, Durgesh Pathak.

In a democracy, to ask a question is not wrong, Mr. Pathak said. I am not abusing anybody. I am not instigating anybody for violence. I am not asking anybody to do any wrong thing. I am asking a question to the prime minister of my country.

Hari Kumar contributed reporting.

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Indian Police Visit Twitter Offices as Modi Goes on Pandemic Offense - The New York Times

Facebook and Instagram will give users the choice to hide Like counts on their own posts as well as others posts that appear in their feeds, the company announced on Wednesday.

The move comes after years of criticism that Facebooks platforms and particularly Instagram, which Facebook owns fuel a pressurized and toxic social media environment that damages peoples mental health and body image. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a call with reporters that surveys showed the well-being of users didnt change when Like counts were removed and that people didnt use the app less or more. I think we had a sense that we were going to lose users, Mosseri explained. It doesnt look like we are going to.

Users will now have a bit more control over when they see Like counts, but the new features do not represent a major change in how these social networks actually work. Instead, Facebook and Instagram are pushing the decision over how Likes are handled to users themselves, which amounts to another example of how Facebook tends to deflect responsibility for its platforms worst impulses and impacts onto users while making promises of more choice.

The new Like count feature is rolling out on Instagram and Facebook starting today. On Instagram, this means that users will now be able to go into the apps settings and turn off Like counts on other peoples posts. To do this in the app, go to Settings > Posts, where youll see a toggle that, when switched on, hides the Like counts viewable on posts from other people that show up in your feed. The default setting is that Likes are visible, so again, users will have to go into the app and proactively change the setting if they want to discontinue seeing Likes..

Users can also ensure that other people cant see the total number of Likes on their own posts. But thats a little bit harder to do: It doesnt appear that users can hide Likes on all their posts by default. Instead, they have to decide whether Likes should be visible for every single post and proactively turn them off.

Its important to note that the underlying metrics that power Instagram arent changing. Likes and data generated by Like-based activity arent going away, and users will still be able to view how many Likes their own posts are getting, even if theyve hidden those numbers from others. Other metrics on Instagram also remain visible to users, including Instagram story views, the number of comments on posts, and follower counts. Mosseri told reporters that leaving the Like count feature intact but making users decide whether or not to see it allowed the company to reconcile those who value Like counts with those who dont.

You mightve seen that weve been testing different options for a while and this update reflects the feedback weve gotten, Mosseri said in a tweet on Wednesday. We want you to feel good about the time you spend on our apps and this is a way to give you more control over your experience.

Notably, Likes can be a valued source of information for influencers and creators who use the platform regularly.

I see this as a slick decision on the part of Facebook to put the onus of metric visibility on its users; it allows them to shore up what seems to be a superficial commitment to users mental health while allowing creators to continue to drive users and hence data to their platforms, Brooke Erin Duffy, a professor of communications who has studied social media, told Recode in an email. Duffy added that Facebooks decision to leave the choice up to individual users seems like an effort to appease creators and influencers, as well as everyday users, without changing Facebooks core model.

Ultimately, even Mosseri admitted that theres evidence that these changes will not do much to improve users mental health. Instagram has been testing different approaches to the Like feature since 2019 and has said its own studies found that the feature tweak had mixed results.

Some think platforms like Instagram need to look at changes beyond individual tools and features that users must find and change themselves. As Vox reporter Rebecca Jennings wrote in 2019, While generally put forth with positive intentions, these overdue measures ignore the fact that no matter how much Instagram would like to be viewed as a place users feel good about visiting, its entire existence is predicated on reminding people that other people are having more fun than they are.

And despite calls for reforms, its not clear that major, fundamental changes to Facebook and Instagram are coming anytime soon. We should still expect these social networks to continue making incremental changes and adjustments to features, providing users with more options rather than more structural reforms of these platforms. History indicates that this is how Facebook is likely to approach problems.

In March, for example, Facebook published a somewhat wonky Feed Filter feature to allow users to decide for themselves whether they want to see an algorithmically curated or reverse-chronological News Feed, while also insisting that Facebook the company is not particularly responsible for political polarization and extreme content. Other new tools meant to give users a semblance of control include a Favorites Feed, which is meant to allow users to curate their own News Feeds, and a choose who can comment feature, which users are meant to take advantage of to limit potentially unwanted interactions.

None of these features are necessarily bad, but they contribute to the troubling trend: Facebook responds to its toughest structural issues by making small tweaks to the user experience or to specific settings. And then its up to users to tweak those settings and adjust how they use the platform with the hope that, somehow, the bad aspects of Facebook will just go away.

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Facebook and Instagram will let you hide Likes: How the new feature works - Vox.com