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Plastic, as a form of marine litter, is found in varying quantities and sizes around the globe from surface waters to deep-sea sediments. Identifying patterns of microplastic distribution will benefit an understanding of the scale of their potential effect on the environment and organisms. As sea ice extent is reducing in the Arctic, heightened shipping and fishing activity may increase marine pollution in the area. Microplastics may enter the region following ocean transport and local input, although baseline contamination measurements are still required. Here we present the first study of microplastics in Arctic waters, south and southwest of Svalbard, Norway. Microplastics were found in surface (top 16 cm) and sub-surface (6 m depth) samples using two independent techniques. Origins and pathways bringing microplastic to the Arctic remain unclear. Particle composition (95% fibres) suggests they may either result from the breakdown of larger items (transported over large distances by prevailing currents, or derived from local vessel activity), or input in sewage and wastewater from coastal areas. Concurrent observations of high zooplankton abundance suggest a high probability for marine biota to encounter microplastics and a potential for trophic interactions. Further research is required to understand the effects of microplastic-biota interaction within this productive environment.

Marine resource managers and scientists often advocate spatial approaches to manage data-poor species. Existing spatial prediction and management techniques are either insufficiently robust, struggle with sparse input data, or make suboptimal use of multiple explanatory variables. Boosted Regression Trees feature excellent performance and are well suited to modelling the distribution of data-limited species, but are extremely complicated and time-consuming to learn and use, hindering access for a wide potential user base and therefore limiting uptake and usage. We have built a software suite in R which integrates pre-existing functions with new tailor-made functions to automate the processing and predictive mapping of species abundance data: by automating and greatly simplifying Boosted Regression Tree spatial modelling, the gbm.auto R package suite makes this powerful statistical modelling technique more accessible to potential users in the ecological and modelling communities. The package and its documentation allow the user to generate maps of predicted abundance, visualise the representativeness of those abundance maps and to plot the relative influence of explanatory variables and their relationship to the response variables. Databases of the processed model objects and a report explaining all the steps taken within the model are also generated. The package includes a previously unavailable Decision Support Tool which combines estimated escapement biomass (the percentage of an exploited population which must be retained each year to conserve it) with the predicted abundance maps to generate maps showing the location and size of habitat that should be protected to conserve the target stocks (candidate MPAs), based on stakeholder priorities, such as the minimisation of fishing effort displacement. By bridging the gap between advanced statistical methods for species distribution modelling and conservation science, management and policy, these tools can allow improved spatial abundance predictions, and therefore better management, decision-making, and conservation. Although this package was built to support spatial management of a data-limited marine elasmobranch fishery, it should be equally applicable to spatial abundance modelling, area protection, and stakeholder engagement in various scenarios.

The following information is missing from the eighth paragraph of the Guide to software functions section under the subheading “Worked example”: To demonstrate gbm.auto we will run a simple example in the sections below; here we load the required functions and data. Dedman S, Officer R, Clarke M, Reid DG, Brophy D (2017) Gbm.auto: A software tool to simplify spatial modelling and Marine Protected Area planning.

The Japanese development of mass culture techniques for Ulvella lens during the 1980s for aquaculture has stimulated the development of rearing techniques for abalone and sea urchins in producing countries. However, since the late 1980s, there has not been any in-depth evaluation of culture methods for U. lens, nor the development of a new robust method for aquaculture operators. The use of this known inducer for settlement of veliger larvae has not been employed on a commercial scale in Ireland or in European aquaculture systems. The new methodology described here has produced a threefold increase in the settlement of sea urchins (Paracentrotus lividus) and is recommended for adoption by the European aquaculture industry.

Insufficient supply of available market size abalone from the wild stocks has resulted in increasing efforts since the early 1990s to culture this valuable marine shellfish. Despite significant financial investment and the establishment and expansion of farms around Europe, the production of a saleable end product has remained undefined. The technical barriers to producing viable juvenile abalone spat still impair growth of the industry in Ireland. Critical developments required in the industry are identified. Uptake of these developments from research remains slow due to the trial-and-error approach taken by operators. Using technologies and procedures from producing countries and implementing them into Irish culture conditions will aid the development and expansion of the industry.

Chronic overfishing has depleted numerous elasmobranch stocks in the North East Atlantic, but addressing this issue has been hampered by management complications and lacking data. Spatial management approaches have thus been advocated. This work presents a novel application and further development of an advanced spatial modeling technique to identify candidate nursery grounds and spawning areas for conservation, by subsetting already limited data. Boosted Regression Tree models are used to predict abundance of juvenile and mature female cuckoo (Leucoraja naevus), thornback (Raja clavata), blonde (Raja brachyura), and spotted (Raja montagui) rays in the Irish Sea using fish survey data and data describing fishing pressure, predation and environmental variables. Model-predicted spatial abundance maps of these subsets reveal distinct nuances in species distributions with greater predictive power than maps of the whole stock. These resulting maps are then integrated into a single easily understood map using a novel approach, standardizing and facilitating the spatial management of data-limited fish stocks.

It has recently been confirmed that some species of decapod crustacean retain their gastric mill and calcified region of the eyestalks throughout their moults. It had previously been assumed that crustacea lost all growth structures that could potentially record age information, such as the bones and otoliths in fish, through moulting. In this study, a novel preparation method was used for observing growth increments within these calcified structures of Nephrops norvegicus and Cancer pagurus (Linnaeus, 1758). This method involved: boiling, drying, resin embedding, sectioning, and polishing the gastric mill and eyestalks. Clear and readable growth increments were observed in longitudinal sections of the mesocardiac ossicle of the gastric mill for N. norvegicus, and longitudinal sections of the zygocardiac ossicle of the gastric mill for C. pagurus. Growth increments were also observed in longitudinal sections of the calcified region of the eyestalk for N. norvegicus. Validation is needed to confirm the periodicity of these growth increments.

Microplastics are an issue of international concern due to the fact that these substances may potentially threaten biota by (i) causing physical harm, (ii) transporting persistent, bioaccumulating and toxic (PBT) substances and, (iii) leaching plastic additives. Within the world’s oceans, areas which experience coastal upwelling are biota rich due to their high levels of primary productivity. The assessment of microplastic presence in areas which experience coastal upwelling is vital as it will indicate whether microplastics are an issue of concern in areas which support key biological resources. The null hypothesis of the present study is that microplastic abundance will be lower in areas where there is upwelling. As such, the present study aims to investigate whether microplastic abundance in upwelled areas in the Atlantic Ocean is significantly different from non-upwelled areas. Based on an opportunistic voyage aboard the RV Polarstern, microplastics will be sampled in sub-surface waters along a diverse latitudinal gradient in the Atlantic Ocean i.e. from Bremerhaven (Germany) to Cape Town (South Africa). Based on the proposed route, it will be possible to determine microplastic levels at two areas of coastal upwelling in the Atlantic Ocean (i) Canary Upwelling Ecosystem (CUE) and (ii) Benguela Upwelling Ecosystem (BUE). The results will then be analysed to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference between ‘upwelled areas’ and ‘non-upwelled areas’.

Marine environments are generally considered as highly valuable and their health and conservation status are seen as key priorities. However, marine wildlife and habitats are facing multiple threats ranging from eutrophication to overfishing and ocean acidification, all of which directly or indirectly affect the biodiversity of marine ecosystems. The Mares Conference 2016 aims to address the main issues of marine ecosystems health and conservation. To do this, six thematic subjects will be explored throughout the conference scientific sessions and exhibitions; 1) Future oceans: Temperature increase, ocean acidification and expanding hypoxic zones in the ocean have the most prominent impacts on marine ecosystems health on the global scale. Recent results show that the reaction of marine ecosystems towards climate change, including ocean warming, acidification and expanding hypoxic zones, is often not linear but may occur in abrupt reorganisations of marine communities. 2) Understanding biodiversity effects on the functioning of marine ecosystems: During the last decades, it has become increasingly clear that the biodiversity of an ecosystem and its functional features are intricately linked. The objective of this theme is to further our understanding of how interactions between species, can be influenced by anthropogenic activities (pollution, fisheries). 3) Biological invasions: Species introduced outside their natural range are deemed non indigenous species. Invasive alien species can have adverse effects on biological diversity, ecosystem functioning, socio-economic values and/or human health in invaded regions. 4) Natural resources: overexploitation, fisheries and aquaculture: Since the late 19th century, the world fisheries catch has increased steadily, however, analysis of global trends of the most important marine stocks in the world shows that the majority are overexploited or depleted. 5) Ocean noise pollution: Anthropogenic sources of noise in the marine environment have increased in line with expansion in shipping, oil and gas exploration, infrastructure development, offshore renewable energy generation, naval sonar and research activities. These sound sources vary in intensity and frequency and can result in chronic and acute impacts on marine organisms. 6) Habitat loss, urban development, coastal infrastructures and marine spatial planning: The coastal zones are changing under pressure from a growing human population and the conversion of shoreline habitat to urban development. While the conservation challenges associated with the expansion of human infrastructures are well understood in terrestrial systems, urban ecology has not been of as much focus in marine science and management.

This paper presents optimum sampling levels in discard sampling programs considering cost and precision objectives simultaneously and explores their dependence on both variables. The analysis is based on the Irish discard program: an onboard-observer voluntary sampling scheme aimed at estimating discard rates in trawl fisheries. Multistage analysis was performed to establish the precision levels achieved in the past, and a cost function was determined to estimate the financial cost of the program. Gear, fishing ground, targeted species, and International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) divisions were the main factors affecting discarding, together with random effects of the three nested groups considered: haul, trip, and vessel. Reductions in the present budget will imply only marginal decreases in precision, although changes in cost variables can have an impact on sampling levels. On the other hand, increasing the target precision by one-half will imply a considerable increase in sampling and associated cost, which will be difficult if not impossible to achieve. Finally, the analysis by fleet components suggests a marked increase in sampling levels, which emphasizes the importance of clearly stated discard sampling objectives.