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10 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111399, We quantified the incidence of microplastics in the gut contents of the European sardine (Sardina pilchardus) and anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea and tested which variables influence this abundance, including the prevalence of parasites (i.e., trematoda larvae and nematodes). We detected a 58% occurrence of microplastics ingestion in sardines and a 60% in anchovies. With respect to sardines, the individuals with lower body conditions were found to have the highest microplastics ingestion probabilities, whereas in anchovies such probabilities were observed in individuals with higher gonadosomatic indices and smaller size. The areas with the highest microplastics ingestion probabilities were the Gulf of Alicante for sardines and the Gulf of Lion - Ebro Delta for anchovies. Both species showed a positive relationship between parasites and microplastics ingestion. These results highlight that both parasitism and ingestion of microplastics are concerns for the health of marine stocks and human consumers, This study was carried out within PELWEB (CTM2017-88939-R) and PELCAT (CAT 152CAT00013, TAIS ARP059/19/00005) projects. [...] MEDITS data collection has been co-funded by the EU through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) within the National Program of collection, management and use of data in the fisheries sector and support for scientific advice regarding the Common Fisheries Policy, With the funding support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S), of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI)

The North Sea provides a useful model for considering forage fish within ecosystem based management as it has a complex assemblage of forage fish species. This paper is designed to encourage further debate and dialogue between stakeholders about management objectives. Changing management of fisheries on forage fish will have economic consequences for all fleets in the North Sea. The predators that arevulnerable to depletion of forage fish are sandwich terns, Great skua and common guillemots, and to a lesser extent marine mammals. Comparative evaluations of management strategies are required to consider whether maintaining reserves of prey biomass or a more integral approach of monitoring mortality rates across the trophic system, is more robust under the ecosystem approach.In terms of trophic energy transfer, stability and resilience of the ecosystem, forage fish should be considered as both a sized-based pool of biomass and as speciescomponents of the system by managers and modellers. Policy developers should not consider the knowledge base robust enough to embark on major projects of ecosystem engineering. Management plans appear able to maintain sustainable exploitation in the short term. Changes in the productivity in forage fish populations are inevitable so management should remain responsive and adaptive., JRC.G.4-Maritime affairs

The effects of the 2003 European heatwave on the sea surface layer of the Central Mediterranean were studied using a regional 3-D ocean model. The model was used to simulate the period 2000 to 2004 and its performance was validated using remotely-sensed and in situ data. Analysis of the results focused on changes in the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and on changes to the surface and sub-surface current field. This permitted us to identify and quantify the anomalies of atmospheric and sea surface parameters that accompanied the heatwave. The dominant annual cycle in each variable was first removed and a wavelet analysis then used to locate anomalies in the time-frequency domain. We found that the excess heating affecting the sea surface in the summer of 2003 was related to a significant increase in air temperature, a decrease in wind stress and reduction of all components of the upward heat flux. The monthly averages of the model SST were found to be in good agreement with remotely-sensed data during the period studied, although the ocean model tended to underestimate extreme events. The spatial distribution of SST anomalies as well as their time-frequency location was similar for both the remotely-sensed and model temperatures. We also found, on the basis of the period of the observed anomaly, that the event was not limited to the few summer months of 2003 but was part of a longer phenomenon. Both the model results and experimental data suggest the anomalous heating mainly affected the top 15 m of ocean and was associated with strong surface stratification and low mixing. The skill of the model to reproduce the sub-surface hydrographic features during the heatwave was checked by comparison with temperature and salinity measurements. This showed that the model was generally in good agreement with observations. The model and observations showed that the anomalous warming also modified the currents in the region, most noticeably the Atlantic Ionian Stream (AIS) and the Atlantic Tunisian Current (ATC). The AIS was reduced in intensity and showed less meandering, mainly due to the reduced density gradient and low winds, while the ATC was enhanced in strength, the two currents appearing to modulate each other in order to conserve the total transport of Modified Atlantic Water.