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Trophic level (TL)-based indicators are commonly used to track the ecosystem effects of fishing as the selective removal of organisms from the food web may result in changes to the trophic structure of marine ecosystems. The use of a fixed TL per species in the calculation of TL-based indicators has been questioned, given that species' TLs vary with ontogeny, as well as over time and space. We conducted a model-based assessment of the performance of fixed TL-based indicators vs. variable TL-based indicators for tracking the effects of fishing pressure. This assessment considered three TL-based indicators (the trophic level of the landed catch (TLc), the marine trophic index (MTI) and the trophic level of the surveyed community (TLsc)), three fishing scenarios that targeted specific model groups (the low TL scenario (LTL), the high TL scenario (HTL) and a scenario encompassing broad-scale exploitation (ALL)) and ten contrasting marine ecosystems with four types of ecosystem modelling approaches that differ in their structure and assumptions. Results showed that, overall, variable TL-based indicators have a greater capacity for detecting the effects of fishing pressure than fixed TL-based indicators. Across TL-based indicators, TLsc displayed the most consistent response to fishing whether fixed or variable species' TLs were used, as well as the highest capacity for detecting fishing effects. This result supports previous studies that promote the use of survey-based indicators over catch-based indicators to explore the impacts of fishing on the structure of marine ecosystems. Across fishing scenarios, the low trophic level fishing scenario (LTL) resulted in the lowest consistency between fixed and variable TL-based indicator responses and the lowest capacity of TL-based indicators for detecting fishing effects. Overall, our results speak to the need for caution when interpreting TL-based indicator trends, and knowledge of the broader context, such as fishing strategies and exploitation history.

Marine geohazards pose a significant threat to the European coastal population and to the development of the Blue Economy. This Position Paper discusses the type, distribution and impact of marine geohazards on the European coastal regions and the Blue Economy, as well as what and how novel scientific approaches may broaden our understanding of their trigger mechanisms and drive a risk-mitigating European policy.

Anthropogenic underwater noise impacts have become a hot topic for environmental managers and regulators in Europe and beyond. Sounds from human activity at sea include shipping and other marine craft, construction and installations, sonar and seismic surveys. This Future Science Brief presents an update on the previous EMB publication on underwater noise, Position Paper N° 13 on “The effects of anthropogenic sound on marine mammals: A draft research strategy". This Future Science Brief expands the scope of the discussion beyond marine mammals to fishes and invertebrates, and outlines key developments that have taken place since the Position Paper’s publication. The main chapters of the document focus on: the advances in our knowledge on anthropogenic underwater sound in the Ocean; the new knowledge that has been developed on the effects of noise on marine organisms; and the measures that have been taken to address the issue of underwater noise. While significant progress has been made, knowledge gaps still remain. The document therefore presents these outstanding issues and highlights priority actions for addressing them. This Future Science Brief states that the most urgent priority actions/questions are to: 1. Develop collaborative international standards applicable to all steps of the risk framework; 2. Conduct comprehensive monitoring combined with spatial ecological modelling of marine species’ dynamic habitat use, movements, behaviour and distribution to establish baselines; 3. Foster comprehensive monitoring and data collection of current soundscapes / ambient noise, including via joint monitoring programmes in existing and new areas; 4. Shortlist high priority (and biologically relevant) sound sources and perform standardized source characterization studies; 5. Undertake hearing studies on baleen whales and on selected fish and invertebrate species; 6. Conduct field and modelling studies on changes in acoustic habitats to identify masking risks to communication in fishes and marine mammals; 7. Conduct further studies on behavioural response of marine mammals and fishes due to exposure to high intensity impulsive sounds to assess population consequences; 8. Conduct taxa-relevant studies on hearing impairment and physiological stress to address existing knowledge gaps in invertebrates, fishes and marine mammals; 9. Conduct dedicated studies including multi-species investigations, predator-prey interactions, and interaction with other food web levels, addressing the question of how noise impacts combine with other stressors; 10. Develop frameworks and conduct studies to allow population-level assessment of effects from cumulative impact of noise and other pressures; 11. Conduct dedicated modelling and field studies to improve understanding on effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of noise mitigation devices, mitigation measures and management options; 12. Develop regional action plans and guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessment and policies; and 13. Initiate international collaborative transdisciplinary projects to develop stakeholder and societal capacity in understanding and addressing underwater noise. European Marine Board Published Current 14.1 14.a Ocean sound Multi-organisational International Method

Editorial special issue Ecopath 30 years – Modelling ecosystem dynamics: beyond boundaries with EwE.-- 4 pages, Marine and coastal ecosystems provide multiple benefits that are fundamental to human wellbeing, but human actions are disrupting and impacting the Earth's ecosystems at an alarming rate. The Ecopath approach was designed to understand the impact of the wide range of anthropogenic pressures that are exerted on the oceans, and of management options for countering these, and it has over the last thirty years grown into a complex and capable modelling framework: “Ecopath with Ecosim” – with Ecospace added on. Exciting new developments of the approach are contributing to address critical and complex issues related to the health of marine ecosystems such as invasion of species, illegal fishing activities, climate change and the development of new activities (e.g., aquaculture and infrastructure development) in coastal areas. This Special Issue presents new findings from selected case studies around the world using advanced features of Ecopath with Ecosim that were presented at the International Conference “Ecopath 30 Years-Modelling ecosystem dynamics: beyond boundaries with EwE” (November 2014, Barcelona, Spain). These contributions showcase new capabilities and findings of Ecopath with Ecosim models applications. Together these papers show that a range of diverse ecological, economic, social and governance drivers are often interacting at dynamic and temporal scales to modify marine resources, which underlines that managing marine ecosystems needs a continuous effort to integrate multiple processes, SV thanks for financial support from the Galician Government (Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria, Xunta de Galicia) (Grant N° R2014/023). FAS thanks CONACYT (Grant N° 221705) and COFAA and EDI programs of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional. JJH was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under the project MERP (Grant N° NE/L003279/1), Marine Ecosystems Research Programme. SL acknowledges support of the Italian RITMARE Flagship Project funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research within the National Research Program 2012–2016. MC was partially funded by the European Commission through the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant Fellowships (Grant N° PCIG10-GA-2011-303534) – to the BIOWEB project

Special issue Ecopath 30 years – Modelling ecosystem dynamics: beyond boundaries with EwE.-- 15 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, 2 appendixes, supplementary data https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.03.020, To realistically predict spatial-temporal dynamics of species in marine ecosystems it is essential to consider environmental conditions in conjunction with human activities and food web dynamics. In this study, we used Ecospace, the spatial-temporal dynamic module of Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) food web model, to drive a spatially explicit marine food web model representing the Southern Catalan Sea (NW Mediterranean) with various environmental drivers and with fishing. We then evaluated the individual and joint effects of environmental conditions and fishing in various compartments of the food web. First we used a previously developed EwE model fitted to time series of data from 1978 to 2010 as a baseline configuration. The model included 40 functional groups and four fishing fleets. We first ran the original Ecospace spatial-temporal dynamic model using the original habitat configuration, in addition to fishing, and we predicted species distributions and abundances. Afterwards, we ran the new habitat foraging capacity model using the most important environmental drivers linked with the Ebro River delta dynamics (salinity, temperature, and primary production), in addition to depth, substrate and fishing, and we compared results with those from the original implementation of Ecospace. Three commercial species, European hake (Merluccius merluccius), anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) and sardine (Sardina pilchardus), were used to analyse results. Species distributions more closely matched the empirical information available from the study area when using the new habitat capacity model. Results suggested that the historical impacts of fishing and environmental conditions on the biomass and distributions of hake, anchovy and sardine were not additive, but mainly cumulative with a synergistic or antagonistic effect. Fishing had the highest impact on spatial modelling results while the spatial distribution of primary producers and depth followed in importance. This study contributes to the development of more reliable predictions of regional change in marine ecosystems of the Mediterranean Sea, MC was partially funded by the European Commission through the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant Fellowships – PCIG10-GA-2011-303534 – to the BIOWEB project and by the Spanish National Program Ramon y Cajal. This study is a contribution to the project ECOTRANS (CTM2011-26333, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain)

Special issue Ecopath 30 years – Modelling ecosystem dynamics: beyond boundaries with EwE.-- 12 pages, 4 figures, 1 box, Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) models are easier to construct and use compared to most other ecosystem modelling techniques and are therefore more widely used by more scientists and managers. This, however, creates a problem with quality assurance; to address this we provide an overview of best practices for creating Ecopath models. We describe the diagnostics that can be used to check for thermodynamic and ecological principles, and highlight principles that should be used for balancing a model. We then highlight the pitfalls when comparing Ecopath models using Ecological Network Analysis indices. For dynamic simulations in Ecosim we show the state of the art in calibrating the model by fitting it to time series using a formal fitting procedure and statistical goodness of fit. Finally, we show how Monte Carlo simulations can be used to address uncertainty in input parameters, and we discuss the use of models in a management context, specifically using the concept of ‘key runs’ for ecosystem-based management. This novel list of best practices for EwE models will enable ecosystem managers to evaluate the goodness of fit of the given EwE model to the ecosystem management question, JJH was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under the project MERP: grant number NE/L003279/1, Marine Ecosystems Research Programme. SM acknowledges support from Defra contract M1228 ‘Fizzyfish’ and EU FP7 GAP2, Grant agreement 266544. MC was partially funded by the European Commission through the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant Fellowships to the BIOWEB project and by the Spanish National Program Ramon y Cajal. VC acknowledges support through an NSERC Discovery Grant RGPIN-2014-05782