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The EU Bioeconomy Strategy aims to support the sustainable growth and development of the EU bio-based sectors while creating jobs, innovation and services. Despite the recognized potential of the algae biomass value chain, significant knowledge gaps still exist regarding the dimension, capability, organization and structure of the algae production in Europe. This study presents and analyses the results of a comprehensive mapping and detailed characterization of the algae production at the European scale, encompassing macroalgae, microalgae, and the cyanobacteria Spirulina. This work mapped 447 algae and Spirulina production units spread between 23 countries, which represents an important addition to the reported number of algae producing countries. More than 50% of these companies produce microalgae and/or Spirulina. Macroalgae production is still depending on harvesting from wild stocks (68% of the macroalgae producing units) but macroalgae aquaculture (land-based and at sea) is developing in several countries in Europe currently representing 32% of the macroalgae production units. France, Ireland, and Spain are the top 3 countries in number of macroalgae production units while Germany, Spain, and Italy stand for the top 3 for microalgae. Spirulina producers are predominantly located in France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. Algae and Spirulina biomass is directed primarily for food and food-related applications including the extraction of high-value products for food supplements and nutraceuticals. Algae production in Europe remains limited by a series of technological, regulatory and market-related barriers. Yet, the results of this study emphasize that the European algae sector has a considerable potential for sustainable development as long as the acknowledged economic, social and environmental challenges are addressed., SI

This working document presents the results of the most significant cephalopods caught on the Porcupine Spanish Groundfish Survey (SP-PORC-Q3) in 2020. Biomass, abundance, geographical distribution and length frequencies were analysed for Eledone cirrhosa (horned octopus), Bathypolypus sponsalis (globose octopus), Todarodes sagittatus (European flying squid), Todaropsis eblanae (lesser flying squid), Loligo forbesi (veined squid), Illex coindetii (broadtail shortfin squid), Rossia macrosoma (stout bobtail squid) and other scarce cephalopods. The biomass and abundance of the most common cephalopods increased, especially I. coindetii and T. sagitattus. In contrast, T. eblanae and B. sponsalis decreased in this last survey. E. cirrhosa and L. forbesi remained at very similar values to the previous year and most of the usually scarce species also generally increased their biomass, with the exception of A. lichtensteinii, R. minor and S. oweniana, which decreased.

Working Document presented to the Working Group the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Waters Ecoregion ICES WGBIE, May 2021., This working document presents the results of the most relevant commercial species on the Spanish Groundfish Survey on Northern Spanish shelf in 2020. Biomass, geographical and length distributions are analyzed for European hake (Merluccius merluccius), four-spot megrim (Lepidorhombus boscii), megrim (L. whiffiagonis), black-bellied anglerfish (Lophius budegassa), white anglerfish (L. piscatorius), sole (Solea solea), Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) and other scarce commercial species. Biomass indices of these target species decreased or remained quite similar this last survey whereas abundance indices and recruitment increased in L. whiffiagonis and L. budegassa. The biomass of the Norway lobster N. norvegicus decreased but increased in additional deep hauls (>500 m)., This survey is included in the ERDEM5 project, co-funded by the EU through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) within the National Program for the collection, management and use of data from the fisheries sector and support for scientific advice in relation to the EU Common Fisheries Policy.

A study of the reproductive biology of the Atlantic chub mackerel (Scomber colias) has been performed in Northern Iberian Atlantic waters (ICES Divisions 27.8.c and 27.9.a.N) based on samples of 14538 specimens (11-50 cm total length) from commercial landings and scientific surveys from 2011-2019. The spawning period was defined based on the monthly prevalence of active females (maturity stages 3, 4 and 5 according to Walsh maturity scale) and temporal variability of females gonado- and hepatosomatic indices (GSI/HSI). Length and age maturity ogives were also estimated for males and females pooling all sampled years together. The spawning period occurred from March to July, with a peak in June. In the 27.8.c area, the GSI, HSI and prevalence of active females increased from March to June and then GSI and prevalence decreased abruptly. In the 27.9.a.N, the peak of spawning was observed earlier (April-May) and with lower intensity than in 27.8.c, but sampling in 27.9.a area was limited to the northern zone (Spanish waters) and are not conclusive. L50 and A50 values estimated with annual data were 22.9 cm and 1.6 years old respectively for both sexes combined, similar to the values estimated with data only from the spawning period: 22.7 cm and 1.5 years old respectively for both sexes combined. Our results were compared with those from previous studies in the NE Atlantic.

Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) are particularly susceptible to bottom-fishing activity as they are easily disturbed and slow to recover. A data-driven approach was developed to provide management options for the protection of VMEs under the European Union “deep-sea access regulations.” A total of two options within two scenarios were developed. The first scenario defined VME closure areas without consideration of fishing activity. Option 1 proposed closures for the protection of VME habitats and likely habitat, while Option 2 also included areas where four types of VME geophysical elements were present. The second scenario additionally considered fishing. This scenario used VME biomass—fishing intensity relationships to identify a threshold where effort of mobile bottom-contact gears was low and unlikely to have caused significant adverse impacts. Achieving a high level of VME protection requires the creation of many closures (> 100), made up of many small (∼50 km2) and fewer larger closures (> 1000 km2). The greatest protection of VMEs will affect approximately 9% of the mobile fleet fishing effort, while closure scenarios that avoid highly fished areas reduce this to around 4–6%. The framework allows managers to choose the level of risk-aversion they wish to apply in protecting VMEs by comparing alternative strategies., SI

Understanding population connectivity within a species as well as potential interactions with its close relatives is crucial to define management units and to derive efficient management actions. However, although genetics can reveal mismatches between biological and management units and other relevant but hidden information such as species misidentification or hybridization, the uptake of genetic methods by the fisheries management process is far from having been consolidated. Here, we have assessed the power of genetics to better understand the population connectivity of white (Lophius piscatorius) and its interaction with its sister species, the black anglerfish (Lophius budegassa). Our analyses, based on thousands of genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms, show three findings that are crucial for white anglerfish management. We found (i) that white anglerfish is likely composed of a single panmictic population throughout the Northeast Atlantic, challenging the three-stock based management, (ii) that a fraction of specimens classified as white anglerfish using morphological characteristics are genetically identified as black anglerfish (L. budegassa), and iii) that the two Lophius species naturally hybridize leading to a population of hybrids of up to 20% in certain areas. Our results set the basics for a genetics-informed white anglerfish assessment framework that accounts for stock connectivity, revises and establishes new diagnostic characters for Lophius species identification, and evaluates the effect of hybrids in the current and future assessments of the white anglerfish. Furthermore, our study contributes to provide additional evidence of the potentially negative consequences of ignoring genetic data for assessing fisheries resources., SI

This working document presents the results on haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), whiting (Merlangius merlangius) and Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) caught in the Porcupine Spanish Groundfish Survey (SP-PORC-Q3) in 2020. Biomass, abundance, distribution and length frequency were analysed. M. aeglefinus remained low in the study area, although it increased slightly, but M. merlangius grew strongly and reached the highest values in the time series. No signs of recruits for neither two species were found. In addition, the incidental species Pleuronectes platessa and Solea solea were not found in 2020 and Pollachius pollachius has never been caught in the time series. The crustacean N. norvergicus fell sharply this last survey, although the mean individual weight was slightly higher than in previous years since 2016.

17 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables, aupplementary material https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13766, The fish assemblages of the Galicia Bank and the closest continental slope (northwest of Spain) were analysed using otter trawls to improve our understanding of how environmental drivers structure seamount fish communities in the deep sea. The effect of environmental drivers on these assemblages was studied using multivariate techniques together with the variation in α and β diversity across assemblages. Fish fauna in the study area was distributed in 5 different assemblages generated by the action of 3 main drivers: depth, distance to the coast and presence of cold-water corals. The observed differences in species composition among assemblages were mostly explained by species turnover across a depth gradient. The seamount summit and the continental slope showed important differences despite sharing similar depths, mainly because several species requiring shallow juvenile habitats were absent from the summit. These absences were observed in both summit assemblages inside and outside the cold-water coral reef. Our results show that in isolated seamounts with relatively deep summits, the lack of connectivity with shallower areas limits the presence of certain species, probably due to the impossibility for these species to migrate directly from shallow to deeper seabed areas. These species are replaced by species with preferences for deeper habitats, providing the fish assemblages located at the top of the summit with a deeper profile than observed in fish assemblages of the continental slope., The data used in this work were obtained thanks to the support of the EC contract INDEMARES-LIFE (07/NAT /E/000732) and the national research project ERDEM of the Instituto Español de Oceanografia (IEO), whereas the extraction of depth preferences by species was developed in the frame of the RECOMARES (RTI2018-094066-B-I00) and VADAPES projects, With the institutional support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)

DEMERSTEM

KEYNOTE POINTS 1. The purpose of the second World Ocean Assessment is to update the first World Ocean Assessment by providing an understanding of changes that have occurred in the global ocean since 2010 and associated trends. 2. The Assessment also provides an overview of understanding of some aspects not fully covered in the first Assessment, such as inputs of anthropogenic noise, marine hydrates, cumulative effects, marine spatial planning and management approaches. 3. The Assessment follows a modified approach to the drivers-pressures-state-impact- response framework, supported through a series of workshops aimed at identifying region-specific information and input for the Assessment, a peer-review process and a process of review by States. Versión del editor

The main objective of the Working Group on Biological Parameters (WGBIOP) is to review the status, issues, developments, and quality assurance of biological parameters for use in assess-ments and management that are in line with the requirements of end-users. In this final year of the three-year term, WGBIOP operated under challenging circumstances due to COVID-19 measures. The initial action plan was replaced by a more flexible one, where online plenary and subgroup meetings were spread over the year with intersessional work to finalize the proposed deliverables. WGBIOP continued the review of past exchanges and workshops under the remit of the working group. Since 2019, these calibrations on age, maturity, and larvae identification have been carried out in SmartDots, an online platform for sharing images and facilitating the reading of otoliths, staging of gonads, and identification of early life stages. Developments are underway to include an improved calculation of modal age and error matrices in the SmartDots standard report. WGBIOP investigated ways to incorporate error matrices into assessments and studied the effect of this inclusion together with stock assessors. Requests for new exchanges and workshops were reviewed, with a focus on stocks to be bench-marked in the coming years. Issue lists were scrutinized, problems identified, and information provided to stock coordinators via regular channels and through the Stock Identification Data-base (SID). Despite close cooperation with stock assessors and continued efforts, it has not been possible to further streamline the WGBIOP workflow with the benchmark process. This will be addressed with the Advisory Committee. The need for validation studies was stressed by the repeated low levels of agreement between readers of some stocks and recurring issues and recommendations to WGBIOP. Lack of resources is the main obstacle. As a first step for measures to prioritize validation studies, WGBIOP iden-tified precision, trueness, and feasibility of validation methods (as well as the urgency for the assessment). WGBIOP continued investigations into new life-history parameters for integrated assessment and advice in cooperation with end-users (Working Group on Integrative, Physical-biological and Ecosystem Modelling-WGIPEM and Regional Coordination Groups-RCGs). This included a standardization and quality assurance action plan for stomach sampling. Efforts have also been taken to streamline data and workflows across databases and groups. A step has been taken in the standardization of quality assurance procedures at the regional level. Institute-level overviews of methods and quality assurance protocols used for ageing and maturity are now available. Also, a new method for quality grading was developed, tested, and implemented in SmartDots.

This study compares the farm management model used in the Mediterranean gilthead seabream (GHSB; Sparus aurata) industry (S1)—stepped entry of juveniles throughout the year with several production cycles and fish ages overlapping in a single farm—with that used in the salmon industry (S2)—the whole is farm filled with fish that are the same age at once with a fallowing period between rearing cycles—in terms of waste production by coupling digestibility coefficients with growth, feeding, and eating behavior models into a mass balance model. We considered the total C, N, and P content in the different waste fractions (particulate and dissolved wastes). The model, which simulated real farming conditions, showed relevant quantitative and qualitative differences between both strategies, with stocked biomass and water temperature as the main drivers, the amount of feed wasted by chewing as the most relevant fraction differentiating both strategies, and the fallowing period as the main distinguishing management feature. We discuss the influence of both farming strategies on some key performance and environmental aspects, such as benthic recovery, the breakdown of the life cycle of pathogens, and adaptability to climate change. Our results suggest that changing the GHSB industry’s production model is necessary for its sustainability., SI

Age and growth of four-spot megrim (Lepidorhombus boscii) at the Porcupine Bank, an important European demersal fisheries area, was estimated for the first time based on the analysis of 1334 otoliths. The state of the stock in the Celtic Seas (including the Porcupine Bank) and the northern Bay of Biscay (Div. 7.b-k and 8.a,b,d) has been recently assessed in ICES mainly based on survey abundance indices, but biological information for a forthcoming age-structured stock assessment process is required. In this study, age was estimated by counting the translucent bands (annuli) of the sagittal otoliths following internationally standardized protocols. Otoliths were obtained from specimens caught during five annual bottom trawl surveys (2008–2012) carried out at the Porcupine Bank. Consistency in age interpretation of four-spot megrim was demonstrated by analyzing the regularity of the distances of the annuli to the otolith’s primordium and by the back-calculation of the annuli. The growth patterns obtained from direct otolith age estimation and from back-calculation were also compared. Age estimation was corroborated by tracking year-class abundance indices from the surveys. The strength of the yearclasses was well tracked in abundant first age groups, highlighting the very abundant 2008 year-class. Furthermore, the von Bertalanffy growth parameters by sex and for combined sexes were also estimated and compared with those from other stocks. The results obtained for these parameters in the combined sexes direct age estimation, their back-calculation and the combination of both methods (L∞: 50.093; k: 0.126; t0: 0.296) will allow the upcoming age-structured assessment of this stock and thus a suitable population management. The strength of the cohorts here obtained was compared with those from a previous study in the Iberian Atlantic (8.c, 9.a) stock and based on age estimates calculated with the same ageing criterion. The differences in demographic structure and cohort dynamics found between stocks support the requirement that each stock continues to be assessed based on its respective age estimates and length distributions, Sí

Aim: Previous analyses of marine fish species richness based on presence-absence data have shown changes with latitude and average species size, but little is known about the underlying processes. To elucidate these processes we use metabolic, neutral and descriptive statistical models to analyse how richness responds to maximum species length, fish abundance, temperature, primary production, depth, latitude and longitude, while accounting for differences in species catchability, sampling effort and mesh size. Data: Results from 53,382 bottom trawl hauls representing 50 fish assemblages. Location: The northern Atlantic from Nova Scotia to Guinea. Time period: 1977–2013. Methods: A descriptive generalized additive model was used to identify functional relationships between species richness and potential drivers, after which nonlinear estimation techniques were used to parameterize: (a) a ‘best’ fitting model of species richness built on the functional relationships, (b) an environmental model based on latitude, longitude and depth, and mechanistic models based on (c) metabolic and (d) neutral theory. Results: In the ‘best’ model the number of species observed is a lognormal function of maximum species length. It increases significantly with temperature, primary production, sampling effort, and abundance, and declines with depth and, for small species, with the mesh size in the trawl. The ‘best’ model explains close to 90% of the deviance and the neutral, metabolic and environmental models 89%. In all four models, maximum species length and either temperature or latitude account for more than half of the deviance explained. Main conclusions: The two mechanistic models explain the patterns in demersal fish species richness in the northern Atlantic almost equally well. A better understanding of the underlying drivers is likely to require development of dynamic mechanistic models of richness and size evolution, fit not only to extant distributions, but also to historical environmental conditions and to past speciation and extinction rates, Sí