An interactive AI-driven platform for fish age reading.

Fish age is an important biological variable required as part of routine stock assessment and analysis of fish population dynamics. Age estimates are traditionally obtained by human experts from the count of ring-like patterns along calcified structures such as otoliths. To automate the process and minimize human bias, modern methods have been designed utilizing the advances in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).

A belly full of jelly? DNA metabarcoding shows evidence for gelatinous zooplankton predation by several fish species in Greenland waters.

The waters of Greenland harbour a high species richness and biomass of gelatinous zooplankton (GZP); however, their role in the diet of the many fish species, including commercially exploited species, has not yet been verified. Traditionally, GZP was considered to be a trophic dead end, i.e.

Comparative analysis of bottom trawl and nanopore sequencing in fish biodiversity assessment: The sylt outer reef example.

The assessment of fish diversity is crucial for effective conservation and management strategies, especially in ecologically sensitive regions such as marine protected areas. This study contrasts the effectiveness of environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding analysis employing Nanopore technology with compare beam trawl surveys at the Sylt Outer Reef, a Natura 2000 site in the North Sea, Germany. Out of the 17 fish species caught in a bottom trawl (using a 3m beam trawl), 14 were also identified through eDNA extracted from water samples.

Operationalizing a fisheries social-ecological system through a Bayesian belief network reveals hotspots for its adaptive capacity in the southern North sea.

Fisheries social-ecological systems (SES) in the North Sea region confront multifaceted challenges stemming from environmental changes, offshore wind farm expansion, and marine protected area establishment. In this paper, we demonstrate the utility of a Bayesian Belief Network (BN) approach in comprehensively capturing and assessing the intricate spatial dynamics within the German plaice-related fisheries SES. The BN integrates ecological, economic, and socio-cultural factors to generate high-resolution maps of profitability and adaptive capacity potential (ACP) as prospective management targets.

Current practices in marine systematic conservation planning: protocol for a global scoping review.

: Systematic Conservation Planning (SCP) involves a series of steps to identify conservation areas and develop management strategies, incorporating feedbacks, revisions, and iterations at any stage. It is a valuable tool in facilitating the effective implementation of Ecosystem-Based Marine Spatial Planning (EB-MSP). However, few efforts have been carried out to summarize information on methods, trends, and progress in SCP in the designation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

Thresholds of seascape fauna composition along gradients of human pressures and natural conditions to inform marine spatial planning.

Knowledge about the cumulative impacts of anthropogenic activities and environmental conditions on marine ecosystems is incomplete and details are lacking. Compositional community changes can occur along gradients, and community data can be used to assess the state of community resilience against combined impacts of variables representing human pressures and environmental conditions. Here we use a machine learning approach, i.

Benthic microbial biogeographic trends in the North Sea are shaped by an interplay of environmental drivers and bottom trawling effort.

Microbial composition and diversity in marine sediments are shaped by environmental, biological, and anthropogenic processes operating at different scales. However, our understanding of benthic microbial biogeography remains limited. Here, we used 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing to characterize benthic microbiota in the North Sea from the top centimeter of 339 sediment samples.

Framing future trajectories of human activities in the German North Sea to inform cumulative effects assessments and marine spatial planning.

The global industrialization of seascapes and climate change leads to an increased risk of severe impacts on marine ecosystem functioning. While broad scale spatio-temporal assessments of human pressures on marine ecosystems become more available, future trajectories of human activities at regional and local scales remain often speculative. Here we introduce a stepwise process to integrate bottom-up and expert-driven approaches for scenario development to inform cumulative effects assessments and related marine spatial planning (MSP).

Reproductive biology of the electric lanternfish Electrona risso (Myctophidae) and the bigscale fishes Melamphaes polylepis and Scopelogadus mizolepis (Melamphaidae).

This study was the first to investigate the key reproductive traits of the electric lantern fish Electrona risso (Myctophidae, n = 918) and the bigscale fishes (Melamphaidae) Melamphaes polylepis (n = 260) and Scopelogadus mizolepis (n = 649). Specimens of these mesopelagic species were collected in March and April 2015 in the eastern Central Atlantic (0-24° N, 20-26° W). Sex ratio was not significantly different from 1:1 in E.

Assessing the potential of Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) for contributing to conservation targets: A global scoping review protocol.

This scoping review (ScR) protocol aims to establish the methodological approach for identifying and mapping the evidence regarding the actual contribution of Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) to spatial conservation targets. Emphasis will be placed on examining the research conducted, including the methodologies applied. OECMs, introduced by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2010, refer to areas outside of protected areas, such as fisheries restricted areas, archaeological sites, and military areas, that effectively conserve biodiversity in-situ over the long term.

A risk-based approach to cumulative effects assessment for large marine ecosystems to support transboundary marine spatial planning: A case study of the yellow sea.

Cumulative effects assessment (CEA) should be conducted at ecologically meaningful scales such as large marine ecosystems to halt further ocean degradation caused by anthropogenic pressures and facilitate ecosystem-based management such as transboundary marine spatial planning (MSP). However, few studies exist at large marine ecosystems scale, especially in the West Pacific seas, where countries have different MSP processes yet transboundary cooperation is paramount. Thus, a step-wise CEA would be informative to help bordering countries set a common goal.

A Deep-Learning Based Pipeline for Estimating the Abundance and Size of Aquatic Organisms in an Unconstrained Underwater Environment from Continuously Captured Stereo Video.

The utilization of stationary underwater cameras is a modern and well-adapted approach to provide a continuous and cost-effective long-term solution to monitor underwater habitats of particular interest. A common goal of such monitoring systems is to gain better insight into the dynamics and condition of populations of various marine organisms, such as migratory or commercially relevant fish taxa. This paper describes a complete processing pipeline to automatically determine the abundance, type and estimate the size of biological taxa from stereoscopic video data captured by the stereo camera of a stationary Underwater Fish Observatory (UFO).

Ecological effects of offshore wind farms on Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in the southern North Sea.

Evaluating the ecological effects of the rapid expansion of offshore renewables at local, regional and ecosystem-wide scales is essential to understand the overall socio-ecological trade-offs also for other sectors such as fisheries. Hence, little is known about the ecological impact on demersal fish. To shed light on this topic, we studied the effects of an offshore wind farm in the southern North Sea on different life stages of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) using a combination of sampling methods at varying spatial and temporal scales.

Climate change disrupts core habitats of marine species.

Driven by climate change, marine biodiversity is undergoing a phase of rapid change that has proven to be even faster than changes observed in terrestrial ecosystems. Understanding how these changes in species composition will affect future marine life is crucial for conservation management, especially due to increasing demands for marine natural resources. Here, we analyse predictions of a multiparameter habitat suitability model covering the global projected ranges of >33,500 marine species from climate model projections under three CO emission scenarios (RCP2.

Fish grabbing: Weak governance and productive waters are targets for distant water fishing.

Distant water fishing occurs worldwide as foreign fleets fish in the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of other states. We test the hypothesis that host state governance performance is an explanatory factor in observed distant water fishing effort using Global Fishing Watch's fishing effort data obtained from vessels' automatic identification system (AIS). We examine the explanatory power of the World Governance Indicators (WGI), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, and biophysical fisheries productivity indicators (temperature, oxygen, salinity, nutrients, and primary productivity) on fishing effort from foreign fleets across the four most common gear types (fixed gear, longliners, trawlers, and tuna purse seiners).

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology.

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species.

Length-weight relationships of 55 mesopelagic fishes from the eastern tropical North Atlantic: Across- and within-species variation (body shape, growth stanza, condition factor).

We present estimates of length-weight relationships (LWRs) of 55 mesopelagic fish species of 13 taxonomic families based on data collected in the eastern tropical North Atlantic (ETNA) in March/April 2015. Our data include novel records for 19 species, while for 25 species LWRs are based on the most robust sample sizes, and for 21 species they are based on the most representative size ranges available up to now. In 31 species, body lengths were within the maximum range of body lengths recorded in the area, with new records of maximum lengths for 13 species.

Reconciling the economic and biological fishery data gathered through the European Data Collection Framework: A new R-tool.

Fishing fleets and targeted stocks are the basis for the design of multiannual management plans at European or Mediterranean levels. Management Strategy Evaluation and bioeconomic modeling need data at a specific level of resolution in terms of time, area and type of fishing activity for analyzing measures for management procedures using simulations. Within the Data Collection Framework, data are to be aggregated at different levels, e.

A Multi-Criteria Framework for the Sustainable Management of Fisheries: a Case Study of UK's North Sea Scottish Fisheries.

In this paper, a sustainability framework with a case application for UK's Scottish fisheries has been developed which integrates aspects related to economic growth, social development, governance, biology, environment, and logistics. Scotland is the centre of UK's commercial fishery sector however it faces challenges such as overexploitation, and changes in the governance structure following Brexit. The contributions of this study are threefold including (i) collecting and analysing primary data gathered from a diverse group of stakeholders in the Scottish fishery sector and scientific community, (ii) prioritising a diverse range of criteria in terms of importance in decision making from industry and scientific community perspectives, (iii) elaboration of the key management objectives in this region within the context of sustainable management of fisheries in the UK.

Efficiency vs resilience: The rise and fall of the German brown shrimp fishery in times of COVID 19.

Unlabelled: In times of world crisis such as climate change and the COVID pandemic much has been said about the need for resilience. However, in scenarios of less concern about crisis the leading paradigm is often that of efficiency. The current study shows how efficiency might have got on the way of achieving the necessary resilience to face the COVID 19.

Deep demersal fish communities respond rapidly to warming in a frontal region between Arctic and Atlantic waters.

The assessment of climate impact on marine communities dwelling deeper than the well-studied shelf seas has been hampered by the lack of long-term data. For a long time, the prevailing expectation has been that thermal stability in deep ocean layers will delay ecosystem responses to warming. Few observational studies have challenged this view and indicated that deep organisms can respond exceptionally fast to physical change at the sea surface.

Extensive oceanic mesopelagic habitat use of a migratory continental shark species.

The identification of movement and behaviour patterns, as well as inter- and intra-population connectivity is crucial in order to implement effective and functional management and conservation measures for threatened migratory species such as tope (Galeorhinus galeus). Yet, previous studies struggled to elucidate clear and consistent movement and depth usage patterns of adult tope in the Northeast Atlantic, suggesting a high plasticity in the migration and behaviour. We deployed pop-up satellite archival tags on adult tope during their seasonal summer aggregations in the inner German Bight of the south-eastern North Sea and near a presumed mating site in southwest Scotland.

Sea-ice derived meltwater stratification slows the biological carbon pump: results from continuous observations.

The ocean moderates the world's climate through absorption of heat and carbon, but how much carbon the ocean will continue to absorb remains unknown. The North Atlantic Ocean west (Baffin Bay/Labrador Sea) and east (Fram Strait/Greenland Sea) of Greenland features the most intense absorption of anthropogenic carbon globally; the biological carbon pump (BCP) contributes substantially. As Arctic sea-ice melts, the BCP changes, impacting global climate and other critical ocean attributes (e.

Making spatial-temporal marine ecosystem modelling better - A perspective.

Marine Ecosystem Models (MEMs) provide a deeper understanding of marine ecosystem dynamics. The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development has highlighted the need to deploy these complex mechanistic spatial-temporal models to engage policy makers and society into dialogues towards sustainably managed oceans. From our shared perspective, MEMs remain underutilized because they still lack formal validation, calibration, and uncertainty quantifications that undermines their credibility and uptake in policy arenas.

Behavioural economics in fisheries: A systematic review protocol.

Background: The field of behavioural economics holds several opportunities for integrated fisheries management and conservation and can help researchers and managers alike understand fisher behaviour and decision-making. As the study of the cognitive biases that influence decision-making processes, behavioural economics differentiates itself from the classical field of economics in that it does not assume strictly rational behaviour of its agents, but rather looks for all mechanisms that influence behaviour. This field offers potential applications for fisheries management, for example in relation to behavioural change, but such applications require evidence of these mechanisms applied in a fisheries context.