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There are three different species of redfish (Sebastes spp.) in the waters of the Flemish Cap (Division 3M, NAFO Regulatory Area): S. fasciatus, S. mentella, and S. norvegicus. Historically, S. fasciatus and S. mentella have been managed together as a single stock because of similar biology and difficulty in species identification. Here we use multivariate autoregressive state-space models to examine the abundance trajectories of the three species and to determine whether they can be treated as a single stock for management purposes or whether they should be treaty separately. We also included covariates to evaluate relationships with climate, commercial catch, and the abundance of predators and (or) competitors and prey. We did two separate analyses: (i) a single-period analysis over the full time series and (ii) a blocked, two-period analysis over different regulatory periods. In both analyses, the best-fit model included separate trajectories for each species at each depth but one overall stock growth rate; both also included commercial catches as a covariate. These analyses suggest that a single assessment for the Sebastes complex is acceptable., Sí

17 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables, supporting information https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12945, Identifiable food remains were analyzed from 46 stomachs of striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded in southern Spain between 2007 and 2014. Results suggest that the species feeds mainly on mesopelagic and neritic fish, but also on oceanic squids. Fish species of the family Myctophidae were the main prey in terms of numerical importance and reconstructed prey weight (62% N and 29% W), followed by squids of the family Ommastrephidae (20% W) and bogue (Boops boops) (15% W). The most important prey taxa according to the General Importance Index (GII) were C. maderensis, Ommastrephidae gen. spp., Notoscopelus spp., and M. punctatum. Higher number of mesopelagic myctophids were found in dolphins from the Mediterranean (73% vs. 29% N), while more demersal gobiids and European hake (Merluccius merluccius) were found in those from the Atlantic (44% vs. 1% and 8% vs., This work was carried out in the Oceanographic Centre of Vigo (Spanish Institute of Oceanography of the Spanish National Research Council; IEO-CSIC) partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness Demographic Challenge (MITECO) through the Commission [28-5307] for “Technical Scientific Advice for the Protection of the Marine Environment: Assessment and Monitoring of Marine Strategies, Monitoring of Marine Protected Areas of State Competence (2018–2021).” M.G.P., carried out this work while registered with the “Campus do Mar doctorate program.” J.G. was supported by the Spanish National Program “Juan de la Cierva-Formación” (FJC2019-040016-I). The contribution of J.G. and R.D.S. was partially supported by the EcoCet Project from the MITECO [CGL2011-25543] and the “Fundación Biodiversidad”, through the FEMP, Pleamar programme. [...] This work acknowledges the “Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence” accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S) to the Institute of Marine Science (ICM-CSIC)

En este trabajo se investigaron los efectos de tres contaminantes orgánicos relevantes: clorpirifos (CPF), un insecticida ampliamente utilizado, fosfato de trifenilo (TPHP), empleado como retardante de llama y como aditivo plástico, y bisfenol A (BPA), utilizado principalmente como aditivo plástico, en larvas en erizo de mar (Paracentrotus lividus). Los experimentos consistieron en exponer huevos fertilizados de erizo de mar a lo largo su desarrollo hasta la larva pluteus de 4 brazos. Se evaluaron los efectos a nivel bioquímico utilizando las enzimas antioxidantes glutatión reductasa (GR) y catalasa (CAT), la enzima de la fase II glutatión S-transferasa (GST) y la enzima de catabolismo de neurotransmisores acetilcolinesterasa (AChE), en combinación con respuestas a nivel individual (crecimiento larvario). El CPF fue el compuesto más tóxico con valores de las concentraciones efectivas del 10% y 50% (EC10 y EC50) de 60 y 279 μg/l (0,17 y 0,80 μM), seguido del TPHP con valores de EC10 y EC50 de 224 y 1213 μg/l (0,68 y 3,7 μM), y del BPA con valores de EC10 y EC50 de 885 y 1549 μg/l (3,9 y 6,8 μM). La toxicidad de los tres compuestos se atribuyó al estrés oxidativo, a la modulación de la respuesta de AChE, y/o a la reducción de la eficacia de los procesos de desintoxicación. Se observaron tendencias crecientes en la actividad CAT para BPA y, en menor medida, para CPF. La actividad GR mostró una respuesta en forma de campana en larvas expuestas a CPF, mientras que el BPA provocó una tendencia creciente en la GR. La GST también mostró una respuesta en forma de campana a la exposición de CPF y se observó una tendencia decreciente para el TPHP. Se observó un patrón de inhibición en la actividad de AChE al aumentar las concentraciones de BPA. Se propone un papel potencial de la GST en el metabolismo de CPF, pero no para TPHP o BPA, y se observó un aumento significativo de la actividad AChE asociada con el estrés oxidativo en larvas expuestas a TPHP. Entre las respuestas bioquímicas, se descubrió que la actividad GR es un biomarcador de exposición fiable para las etapas tempranas de los erizos de mar, proporcionando una primera señal de daño. Estos resultados muestran que la integración de respuestas a nivel bioquímico con respuestas relacionadas con la eficacia biológica (por ejemplo, crecimiento) puede ayudar a mejorar el conocimiento sobre el impacto de las sustancias tóxicas en los ecosistemas marinos., IMPACTA, Impacto de microplásticos, contaminantes regulados y emergentes en ecosistemas marinos y establecimiento de sus criterios de calidad ambiental, SI

Dinoflagellates are a group of protists whose exceptionally large genome is organized in permanently condensed nucleosome-less chromosomes. In this study, we examined the potential role of repetitive DNAs in both the structure of dinoflagellate chromosomes and the architecture of the dinoflagellate nucleus. Non-denaturing fluorescent in situ hybridization (ND-FSH) was used to determine the abundance and physical distribution of telomeric DNA and 16 microsatellites (1- to 4-bp repeats) in the nucleus of Gambierdiscus australes. The results showed an increased relative abundance of the different microsatellite motifs with increasing GC content. Two ND-FISH probes, (A)20 and (AAT)5, did not yield signals whereas the remainder revealed a dispersed but nonrandom distribution of the microsatellites, mostly in clusters. The bean-shaped interphase nucleus of G. australes contained a region with a high density of trinucleotides. This nuclear compartment was located between the nucleolar organizer region (NOR), located on the concave side of the nucleus, and the convex side. Telomeric DNA was grouped in multiple foci and distributed in two polarized compartments: one associated with the NOR and the other peripherally located along the convex side of the nucleus. Changes in the position of the telomeres during cell division evidenced their dynamic distribution and thus that of the chromosomes during dinomitosis. These insights into the spatial organization of microsatellites and telomeres and thus into the nuclear architecture of G. australes will open up new lines of research into the structure and function of the nucleosome-less chromatin of dinoflagellates., Deteccion innovadora de proliferaciones algales toxicas: una necesidad frente al calentamiento global, SI

Evaluación de Recursos Marinos Vivos en el Área ICES, EVALICES2

Evaluación de Recursos Marinos Vivos en el Área ICES, EVALICES2

Evaluación de Recursos Marinos Vivos en el Área ICES, EVALICES2

Report of the NAFO/ICES Pandalus Assessment Group Meeting held by WebEx from 1 to 4 November 2021, SI

Many studies have been carried out along mighty rivers with heavily industrialized watersheds to evaluate pollutants and their effects on freshwater organisms. However, their impact on marine organisms is virtually unknown. In order to cover this gap, Solea solea, one of the most important commercial fish species, together with sediments, were sampled during 2013–2015 offshore from the Ebro Delta river mouth. Fish health indicators (condition indices, histological tissue alterations, and parasite descriptors) were used to assess the potential effect of pollutants, an issue of particular interest in the area following the dredging activities taking place in the river upstream in 2013. No major histopathological alterations were detected, but perivascular inflammatory foci (PIF) were frequently observed, especially in 2014. The most prevalent and abundant parasites were acanthocephalans and digeneans within the digestive tract and copepods on the gills. Levels of trace metals from sediments and fish muscle were below the effects range median and reference levels accepted for human consumption, respectively. However, the lower levels of the hepatosomatic index, higher numbers of PIF, and variations in the abundance of parasites in 2014 and 2015 could suggest a pollutant exposure during these years. These results warn signs of toxicity, which could be associated with sediment leaks during the dredging activities., SI

23 pages, 9 figures, 7 tables.-- This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, The Galician shelf (northwestern Iberian Peninsula) is a highly dynamic area with an important multi-species fisheries industry that exploits resources from several habitats, characterized by being not only highly diverse, rich, and productive but also seasonally and interannually variable. Early life stages of different species are distributed throughout the year, with fluctuating abundances and community composition. Likewise, the influence of environmental factors and processes on larval production and survival remains unknown. Sampling was carried out in July 2012, and all the larvae obtained were identified to establish the specific composition of the community in a summer upwelling scenario. The results show no zonation in the species distribution, a consequence of the mixing effects of the upwelling and eddies, with high diversity but low abundance, which render in a slight predominance of a few species. Due to the dependence of planktonic populations on upwelling events, which was not highly pronounced in 2012, we cannot conclude that this was a typical conformation of the Galician summer larval fish community, but it is a first approach to comprehend the community composition, This work was funded by the Spanish research project CRAMER (CTM2010-21856-CO3-02), the Galician research project ECOPREGA (10MMA602021PR), and the “Mobility grant (Research, innovation and growth plan 2011-2015, I2C) from the Innovation agency of the Xunta de Galicia. File 20/2014”

Report of the Scientific Council meeting held by WebEx from 20 to 24 September 2021, SI

14 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables, 1 appendix, [EN] Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a promising management tool for the conservation and recovery of marine ecosystems, as well as fishery management. MPAs are generally established as permanent closures but marine systems are dynamic, which has generated debate in favour of more dynamic designs. As a consequence, the identification of priority areas should assess their persistence in space and time. Here, we develop a step-by-step approach to assess the spatiotemporal dynamics of fishery management priority areas using standard fishery-independent survey data. To do so, we fit Bayesian hierarchical spatiotemporal SDM (species distribution model) models to different commercially important demersal species and use the resulting maps to fit different spatial prioritisation configurations. The proposed method is illustrated through a western Mediterranean case study using fishery-independent trawl survey data on six commercially important species collected over 17 years. We use these results to assess the spatiotemporal dynamics of fishery priority areas. We identified two fishery priority area patterns in the study area, each predominant during a different time period of the study, asserting the importance of regularly reassessing MPA designs, [FR] Les aires marines protégées (AMP) constituent un outil de gestion prometteur pour la conservation et le rétablissement des écosystèmes marins, ainsi que pour la gestion des pêches. Si les AMP sont généralement établies comme zones interdites à la pêche permanentes, le caractère dynamique des systèmes marins est à l’origine d’arguments en faveur d’une conception plus dynamique de ces aires. La délimitation de secteurs prioritaires devrait ainsi comprendre une évaluation de leur persistance dans l’espace et le temps. Nous présentons une approche par étape pour évaluer la dynamique spatiotemporelle de secteurs prioritaires pour la gestion des pêches qui fait appel à des données d’évaluation indépendantes des pêches standards. Pour ce faire, nous ajustons des modèles de répartition d’espèces (MRE) spatiotemporels hiérarchiques bayésiens à différentes espèces démersales d’importance commerciale et utilisons les cartes ainsi produites pour ajuster différentes configurations de priorisation spatiale. La méthode proposée est illustrée par une étude de cas de l’ouest de la mer Méditerranée qui fait appel à des données de relevés au chalut indépendantes de la pèche pour six espèces d’importance commerciale, recueillies sur 17 années. Nous utilisons ces résultats pour évaluer la dynamique spatiotemporelle de secteurs prioritaires pour la pêche. Nous cernons deux motifs de secteurs prioritaires pour la pêche dans la région d’étude, chacun étant prédominant durant différentes périodes de l’étude, ce qui souligne l’importance d réévaluer régulièrement la conception des AMP, MEDITS project has been co-funded since 1994 by the EU through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) within the National Program of collection, management and use of data in the fishery sector and support for scientific advice regarding the Common Fisheries Policy. IP would like to thank the Fundación Biodiversidad (Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment) for the funding provided and the invaluable help provided to access the required data. DC and ALQ also thank the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación—Agencia Estatal de Investigación for grant PID2019-106341GB-I00 (jointly financed by the European Regional Development Fund, FEDER). MGP also thanks the IMPRESS (RTI2018-099868-B-I00) project, ERDF, Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities—State Research Agency. JG was supported by the Spanish National Program Juan de la Cierva-Formación (FJC2019-040016-I). This work acknowledges the “Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence” accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S) to the Institute of Marine Science (ICM-CSIC)

Report of the Scientific Council (in conjunction with NIPAG) Meeting held by WebEx from 1 to 4 November 2021, SI

The Iberian SE is an interesting transition and connectivity zone between the Alboran Sea and the Algerian-Balearic basin. It hosts important deep water fisheries targeting mostly red shrimp (Aristeus antennatus). The area comprises a complex system of tectonic canyons (Mazarron Escarpment), seamounts, knolls and hills (Palos, Planazo, Plis-Plas), and pockmark fields (Acosta et al., 2013). Few studies have been conducted on the bathyal megabenthos, unlike in the neighbouring Chella Bank (De la Torriente et al. 2018) and Balearic Islands (Massuti et al. 2022). The LIFE IP Intemares project is filling this gap., INTEMARES_A_22_M, Proyecto INTEMARES. Subacción A 22: Mejora del conocimiento para la declaración de nuevos espacios marinos por su importancia para hábitats.

ICES Annual Science Conference 2022, 19–22 September, Dublin (Ireland)

The Life IP INTEMARES project seeks to enlarge and improve the Spanish marine Natura 2000 network. Many surveys have been carried out to this end, one of them off SE Spain, with the main goal of finding VMEs that could be the basis for future SCIs. This study addresses for the first time the impact of litter and marks on the bathyal seabed off the SE Iberian Peninsula., INTEMARES_A_22_M, Proyecto INTEMARES. Subacción A 22: Mejora del conocimiento para la declaración de nuevos espacios marinos por su importancia para hábitats.

CIES, Campañas de Ictioplancton para Evaluación de Stocks

Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) pose a severe socio-economic problem worldwide. The dinoflagellate species Alexandrium catenella produces potent neurotoxins called saxitoxins (STXs) and its blooms are associated with the human intoxication named Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP). Knowing where and how these blooms originate is crucial to predict blooms. Most studies in the Chilean Patagonia, were focused on coastal areas, considering that blooms from the adjacent oceanic region are almost non-existent. Using a combination of field studies and modelling approaches, we first evaluated the role of the continental shelf off northern Chilean Patagonia as a source of A. catenella resting cysts, which may act as inoculum for their toxic coastal blooms. This area is characterized by a seasonal upwelling system with positive Ekman pumping during spring-summer, and by the presence of six major submarine canyons. We found out that these submarine canyons increase the vertical advection of bottom waters, and thus, significantly enhance the process of coastal upwelling. This is a previously unreported factor, among those involved in bloom initiation. This finding put this offshore area at high risk of resuspension of resting cysts of A. catenella. Here, we discuss in detail the physical processes promoting this resuspension., DETECCIÓN INNOVADORA DE PROLIFERACIONES ALGALES TÓXICAS: UNA NECESIDAD FRENTE AL CALENTAMIENTO GLOBAL, DIANAS, SI

Scientific Council reviewed and finalized the working paper drafted by the Precautionary Approach Working Group (PA-WG). The final draft of this working paper, which will be presented to the Precautionary Approach workshop (15-16 August 2022) and WG-RBMS (17-19 August 2022), is attached to this report as Appendix II

The meeting was opened by the co-Chairs Fernando González-Costas (European Union) and Ray Walsh (Canada) at 09:30 hours (UTC/GMT -3 hours in Halifax, Nova Scotia) on Wednesday, 17 August 2022.

Campañas de Ictioplancton para Evaluación de Stocks, CIES

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are recurrent in the NW Patagonia fjords system and their frequency has increased over the last few decades. Outbreaks of HAB species such as Alexandrium catenella, a causal agent of paralytic shellfish poisoning, and Protoceratium reticulatum, a yessotoxins producer, have raised considerable concern due to their adverse socioeconomic consequences. Monitoring programs have mainly focused on their planktonic stages, but since these species produce benthic resting cysts, the factors influencing cyst distributions are increasingly gaining recognition as potentially important to HAB recurrence in some regions. Still, a holistic understanding of the physico-chemical conditions influencing cyst distribution in this region is lacking, especially as it relates to seasonal changes in drivers of cyst distributions as the characteristics that favor cyst preservation in the sediment may change through the seasons. In this study, we analyzed the physico–chemical properties of the sediment (temperature, pH, redox potential) and measured the bottom dissolved oxygen levels in a “hotspot” area of southern Chile, sampling during the spring and summer as well as the fall and winter, to determine the role these factors may play as modulators of dinoflagellate cyst distribution, and specifically for the cysts of A. catenella and P. reticulatum. A permutational analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) showed the significant effect of sediment redox conditions in explaining the differences in the cyst assemblages between spring-summer and fall-winter periods (seasonality). In a generalized linear model (GLM), sediment redox potential and pH were associated with the highest abundances of A. catenella resting cysts in the spring-summer, however it was sediment temperature that most explained the distribution of A. catenella in the fall-winter. For P. reticulatum, only spring-summer sediment redox potential and temperature explained the variation in cyst abundances. The implications of environmental physico-chemical seasonality for the resting cysts dynamics of both species are discussed., DETECCIÓN INNOVADORA DE PROLIFERACIONES ALGALES TÓXICAS: UNA NECESIDAD FRENTE AL CALENTAMIENTO GLOBAL, DIANAS, SI

The reproductive success of aquatic animals depends on a complex web of relationships between the environment, the attributes of the reproductive individuals and human-induced selection. All of them are manifested directly or indirectly through parental effects, which can also compensate for certain external impacts. Parental effects refer to the influence that the phenotype and environmental conditions in which individuals develop exert on the phenotype of their offspring, and they can even have transgenerational impact. This paper describes the different types of parental effects and reviews the published literature to analyze the causes of their variation and their impact on reproductive resilience and population dynamics., SI