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In the deep-sea, abundant and diverse biological communities tend to occur in areas where combinations of geological, physical and biological processes locally enhance trophic-wide productivity, sustaining aggregations of consumers and top predators. These areas are 'productivity hotspots' and their delimitation should improve the effectiveness of area-based strategies designed to manage human activities and protect the deep-sea. We explored the premise that fishing operations in association with geomorphological features are effective surrogates for delimiting productivity hotspots distribution in the Brazilian Meridional Margin (BMM; 18°S - 35°S; 200 – 3300 m). We described along-slope and across-slope geoforms and related them with catch patterns of fishes, deep-sea shrimps, deep-sea crabs and squids in 23565 fishing hauls conducted between 2000 and 2007. Over 97% of the total catch was obtained in Santos (42.7%) and Pelotas (54.8%) sedimentary basins. In the former, 55.7% of all fishing hauls and 38.6% of the catch were obtained from one of 12 slope geoforms, which covered 22% of the available fishing area. In the Pelotas basin, a shelf break geoform covering 6% of the fishing area concentrated 29.5% of the fishing hauls and 30.2% of the catch. Best fit delta-lognormal Generalized Linear Models (explaining >50% of the total variance) highlighted the positive effect of shelf break embayments of Santos Basin in occurrence and abundance of the pool of species targeted by fisheries. Within these embayments, sectors incurvated and excavated by erosive action of the Brazil Current positively affected abundance and occurrences of fishes and deep-sea shrimps, respectively. The upper slope (300 – 500 m depths) were particularly favorable for fishes and squid concentrations, whereas the lower slope (600 – 800 m depths) increased the probability of deep-sea shrimp catches. We propose that the Santos Basin shelf break embayments host mesoscale and sub-mesoscale productivity hotspots, sustained by biophysical processes promoted by the Brazil Current flow, coupled with biological active transport of pelagic and demersal vertical migrators, some of them targeted by bottom fisheries. We advocate that these are unique features, in the otherwise oligotrophic SW Atlantic subtropical gyre, that should be taking into consideration in regional systematic conservation plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Age, growth, and maturity of the bluewing searobin Prionotus punctatus were studied to assess its stock status in southern Brazil. Total length compositions, weight, sex, and maturity stage were recorded from commercial landings, and ages were estimated from transverse sections of the sagittal otolith. The oldest observed specimen was a 12‐year‐old female. Females grew to a larger asymptotic length (L∞ = 384.4 mm) than males (L∞ = 311.7 mm) but at a slower instantaneous rate (kfemales = 0.41 year−1, kmales = 0.75 year−1). Reproduction occurred from spring to early fall. Females size‐ and age‐at‐maturity was estimated at 246.8 mm and 1.66 years, while males were at 237.2 mm and 1.38 years. Based on a statistical catch‐at‐age stock assessment, the spawning biomass declined 84% from 1976 to 2000 being classified as overfished and suffering from overfishing (B/Bmsy = 0.62; F/Fmsy >1). P. punctatus was regularly discarded by industrial fisheries before 2000 but suffered from high exploitation in the last decades. These results highlight the need for the species to be included in Brazil's fishery management plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The iAtlantic Project has established an international collaborative strategy to improve mapping and characterization of deep and open ocean ecosystems in understudied regions of the Atlantic and evaluate their health. In December 2022, the first iAtlantic expedition in the South Atlantic set off to map and explore seafloor ecosystems in the Santos Basin slope (200-1,000 m depths) in collaboration with the Petrobras 'Santos Basin - Regional Characterization Project.' The 17-day 'iAtlantic_BR10-Petrobras' cruise was conducted on board the research vessel NPqHOc Vital de Oliveira (Brazilian Navy) and performed (a) water column structure characterization, (b) seafloor morphology mapping, (c) description of benthic habitats and communities by seafloor imagery and biological/ geological sampling, and (d) ex-situ experiments to assess the functioning of sedimentary ecosystems and their responses to climate-related environmental changes. This study describes the rationale behind the iAtlantic_BR10-Petrobras cruise science plan, reports its sampling strategy and methods, and summarizes its collected data and preliminary results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial trawling on the Atlantic slope areas off Brazil intensified in the late 1990's owing to the expansion of coastal trawling areas and the operations of a chartered foreign fleet. Between 2000 and 2003, 59 fishing trips conducted by 10 chartered trawlers were intensely monitored by observers and satellite vessel monitoring systems, totaling 9,069 tows and 30,085.2 trawling hours. Fishing operations occurred in northern, northeastern, southeastern, and southern sectors of the Brazilian coast in 60-1,173 m depths. Total retained and processed catch were 8,074.6 t and 6,479.8 t, respectively. Argentine hake, Merluccius hubbsi; and Argentine shortfin squid, Illex argentinus, were the primary species taken contributing to 41.1 % and 28.6% of the overall catch, respectively. The silver John dory, Zenopsis conchifera; monkfish, Lophius gastrophysus; Brazilian codling, Urophycis mystacea; and the black grouper, Epinephelus nigritus, composed 23% of total processed catch, and the remaining 7.2% was composed of deep-sea shrimps (family Aristeidae) and other teleosts and elasmobranches. The occupation of slope areas included an early exploratory phase, followed by directed phases of the upper slope (300-500 m), aiming principally at the Argentine hake, and the lower slope (>700 m), targeting valuable concentrations of deep-sea aristeid shrimps. The role of chartering for slope trawling development was critically addressed. We conclude that chartered vessels were efficient explorers and were particularly important in areas not available to the technologically limited national fleet. Because the charters were market-oriented and had elevated profit demands, however, those vessels quickly turned from exploration to exploitation and competed with national trawlers in shallower areas and produced significant impacts on Brazil's modest deep-sea resources., Introduction Large-scale trawl fishing development around the world has been principally associated with the occupation of productive continental shelf areas ( The continental shelf off Brazil encompasses 911,000 [km.sup.2] bathed [...]

Abstract: Background: Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP‐NENs) are a complex family of tumors of widely variable clinical behavior. The World Health Organization (WHO) 2010 classification provided a valuable tool to stratify neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) in three prognostic subgroups based on the proliferation index. However, substantial heterogeneity remains within these subgroups, and simplicity sometimes entails an ambiguous and imprecise prognostic stratification. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the prognostic impact of histological differentiation within the WHO 2010 grade (G) 1/G2/G3 categories, and explore additional Ki‐67 cutoff values in GEP‐NENs. Subjects, Materials, and Methods: A total of 2,813 patients from the Spanish National Tumor Registry (RGETNE) were analyzed. Cases were classified by histological differentiation as NETs (neuroendocrine tumors [well differentiated]) or NECs (neuroendocrine carcinomas [poorly differentiated]), and by Ki‐67 index as G1 (Ki‐67 <2%), G2 (Ki‐67 3%–20%), or G3 (Ki‐67 >20%). Patients were stratified into five cohorts: NET‐G1, NET‐G2, NET‐G3, NEC‐G2, and NEC‐G3. Results: Five‐year survival was 72%. Age, gender, tumor site, grade, differentiation, and stage were all independent prognostic factors for survival. Further subdivision of the WHO 2010 grading improved prognostic stratification, both within G2 (5‐year survival: 81% [Ki‐67 3%–5%], 72% [Ki‐67 6%–10%], 52% [Ki‐67 11%–20%]) and G3 NENs (5‐year survival: 35% [Ki‐67 21%–50%], 22% [Ki‐67 51%–100%]). Five‐year survival was significantly greater for NET‐G2 versus NEC‐G2 (75.5% vs. 58.2%) and NET‐G3 versus NEC‐G3 (43.7% vs. 25.4%). Conclusion: Substantial clinical heterogeneity is observed within G2 and G3 GEP‐NENs. The WHO 2010 classification can be improved by including the additive effect of histological differentiation and the proliferation index. Implications for Practice: Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms are tumors of widely variable clinical behavior, roughly stratified by the World Health Organization (WHO) 2010 classification into three subgroups based on proliferation index. Real‐world data from 2,813 patients of the Spanish Registry RGETNE demonstrated substantial clinical heterogeneity within grade (G) 2 and G3 neuroendocrine neoplasms. Tumor morphology and further subdivision of grading substantially improves prognostic stratification of these patients and may help individualize therapy. This combined, additive effect shall be considered in future classifications of neuroendocrine tumors and incorporated for stratification purposes in clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides first-time estimates of direct fuel inputs and greenhouse gas emissions produced by the trawl fishing fleet operating off southeastern and southern Brazil. Analyzed data comprised vessel characteristics, landings, fishing areas and trawling duration of 10,144 fishing operations monitored in Santa Catarina State from 2003 to 2011. Three main fishing strategies were differentiated: ‘shrimp trawling’, ‘slope trawling’ and ‘pair trawling’. Jointly these operations burned over 9.1 million liters of diesel to land 342.3 million kilograms of fish and shellfish. Annually, 0.023–0.031 l were consumed for every kg of catch landed. Because all fishing strategies relied on multispecific catches to raise total incomes, estimates of fuel use intensity were generally low but increased 200–900% if only nominal targets were considered. In nine years, trawling operations emitted 6.69 GgC to the atmosphere, between 2300 and 3300 tons CO 2 per year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]