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This year the group changed its name to Working Group on Acoustic and Egg Surveys for small pelagic fish in NE Atlantic (WGACEGG). WGACEGG coordinates, assesses and quality controls acoustic and daily egg production (DEPM) surveys of several pelagic stocks in ICES areas 6-9. During three 2020 WGACEGG meetings, results of three DEPM surveys, three spring/summer acoustic surveys and all six autumn surveys were presented. Implications of the cancellation of three surveys (SAREVA and PELACUS (Spain)) and PELGAS (France) were also discussed, as were possible mitigations to minimize the effects on the relevant stock assessments. No concerns were raised about the surveys that took place. The results from the DEPM survey for sardine in 9a could not be provided until December, as COVID-19 had restricted laboratory access. WGACEGG also met with members of the Working Group on Southern Horse Mackerel, Anchovy, and Sardine (WGHANSA) to present the results from the 2020 Portuguese (PELAGO) acoustic survey in advance of the June assessment meeting. The working groups discussed the implications of PELAGO using a different vessel and of the earlier timing (compared to the timeseries) on the sardine and anchovy indices. The joint meeting also identified which surveys were at risk of being cancelled because of COVID-19 and discussed possible mitigations. Biomass estimates for both sardine and anchovy in division 9a were higher than observed in recent years as confirmed by both acoustic and DEPM surveys; DEPM derived Bay of Biscay anchovy spawning stock biomass was the highest on record although the number of recruits in the Bay of Biscay observed later in autumn did not reflect this increase. However, this was at least partly due to a northwards expansion into the English Channel where Bay of Biscay juveniles were found for the first time; sardine biomass in the Bay of Biscay from all available surveys suggested slightly lower values than the long-term average; in the English Channel sardine biomass was the second highest in the time-series; sprat biomass in the English Channel was similar to those observed in the last few years; herring biomass in the Celtic Sea had increased from 2019 but was still very low; Horse mackerel south and west of Ireland continued a three-year declining trend in biomass whereas boarfish biomass in the same area more than doubled. The group updated the grid map database and the joint analyses of the ecological drivers of pelagic species distributions within their ecosystems. Two ICES TIMES reports will be published soon; the acoustic report has been accepted and the DEPM report is currently under revision. WGACEGG participants also contributed to several peer reviewed publications in 2020 and more are under revision. WGACEGG and the Working Group on Acoustic Trawl Data Portal Governance (WGAcousticGov) agreed to continue the move towards using the ICES trawl acoustic database as the primary survey data repository. Progress on other collaborative activities was discussed, including with WGSPF (Small Pelagic Fish) and, specifically, a WGACEGG-led theme session for the 2022 SPF Symposium.

The Working Group of International Pelagic Surveys (WGIPS) met in Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Spain on 14–18 January 2019, under the chairmanship of Bram Couperus, Netherlands and Michael O’Malley, Ireland. This was the first meeting in the multi-annual ToR term. The core objectives of the Expert Group are to combine and review results of annual pelagic ecosystem surveys to provide indices for the stocks of herring, sprat, mackerel, boarfish, and blue whiting in the NortheastAtlantic, Norwegian Sea, North Sea, and Western Baltic; and to coordinate timing, coverage and methodologies for the upcoming 2019 surveys.A session was held in 2019 to assess auxiliary pelagic ecosystem surveying techniques currently used on surveys coordinated by WGIPS. It was decided that this approach will be continued in future meetings during this term whereby results from the auxiliary monitoring of ecosystem components will be presented in a separate session from the standard fishery survey results for the target species. In practice this means that the session planned under Term of Reference (ToR)h for 2019 will be repeated in 2020 and 2021.Additionally, progress, developments and experiences with the survey analysis software StoX as well as with the ICES acoustic database repository were analysed and discussed amongst users and developers during the meeting and the intention to further consolidate both the software and the database as common tools to be utilized among all surveys coordinated within WGIPS was stated. Further work progressed on editing the current version of the SISP 9 Manual forInternational Pelagic Surveys and will continue intersessionally.WGIPS requests a workshop to establish and agree on survey design and protocols for coordinating and conducting acoustic surveys on herring spawning aggregations. The workshop will focus on industry acoustic surveys on herring spawning aggregations in 6.a and in the Irish Sea. WGIPS also requests a workshop on scrutinising procedures of acoustic data from surveys participating in the IESSNS survey. Scrutinisation procedures, including using biological samples and allocation of species to echotraces need to be scientifically reviewed periodically for all acoustic surveys and a set of technical procedures agreed for each survey.A new Term of Reference (ToR) was added to the Working Group ToRs. The purpose of the ToR is to review the work, and report of workshops organized by WGIPS and develop formal ICES recommendations. This should include SISP updates and adopting changes to survey coordination where deemed appropriate.Results from the WGIPS surveys in 2018 as well as coordination plans for the 2019 individual and multinational pelagic acoustic surveys in Northeast Atlantic waters (Multinational surveys: IBWSS, IESNS, IESSNS, HERAS, and individual surveys: CSHAS, WESPAS, ISAS, PELTIC, GERAS, PELACUS, Irish Sea spawning survey and industry acoustic surveys in 6.a/7.b/c) are given in Annexes 3 -14 of this report.

A person can be appraised as an individual or as a member of a social group. In the present study we tested whether the knowledge about social groups is represented independently of the living and non-living things. Patients with frontal and temporal lobe tumors involving either the left or the right hemisphere performed three tasks – picture naming, word-to-picture matching and picture sorting – tapping the lexical semantic knowledge of living things, non-living things and social groups. Both behavioral and voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) analyses suggested that social groups might be represented differently from other categories. VLSM analysis carried out on naming errors revealed that left–lateralized lesions in the inferior frontal gyrus, amygdala, insula and basal ganglia were associated with the lexical-semantic processing of social groups. These findings indicate that the social group representation may rely on areas associated with affective processing.