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The Atlantic chub mackerel (Scomber colias) is one of the main fishing resources for the fisheries targeting small pelagics in NW African waters. This species is expanding its geographical distribution through higher latitudes in southern European Atlantic waters, and it has become an important fishing resource in Iberian Atlantic waters during the last decades. The present study addresses the growth variability of S. colias in the Iberian waters, from southern Bay of Biscay up to Gulf of Cadiz. Age estimates based on otoliths and growth parameters were obtained from specimens collected within the study area during one decade (from both commercial landings and scientific-acoustic surveys), and sexual growth variation was analysed. A common pattern of abundant cohorts was observed in various areas. However, differences in the demographic structure of the catches were observed among the different areas, with the southernmost area studied (Portuguese and Spanish waters off Gulf of Cadiz) standing out with younger individuals. These new findings are of interest for the stock assessment of S. colias, which has not been addressed in ICES waters so far.

Total weight-length, gutted weight-length and total weight-gutted weight relationships were fitted for the Iberian Atlantic stock of four spot megrim (Lepidorhombus boscii) and their temporal variations were analyzed. The large sample size, size range and timeseries available allowed obtaining robust somatic parameters of combined sexes for the total weight-length relationships (a=0.0043, b=3.2008), for the gutted weight-length relationships (a=0.0055, b=3.1139), and the weight conversion factors (1.062). They are considered to best fit the current biometric relationships and most appropriate to be used in the stock assessment of the status of the stock and they contribute to a deeper knowledge of the life history traits of this species.

This study aims to describe the current length at age database available for Eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna management area. A total of 8 500 spines and 5 000 otoliths were read from specimens caught from 1984 to 2017 in both the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Obtaining ALKs for this species is difficult, as it has a wide length range and spatial distribution, and sampling is costly. Unfortunately, there are practically no contributions to this database from the East Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea countries, and only thanks to the initiative of the GBYP has it been possible to increase the number of samples in the ICCAT database in the last 10 years. As a result, the current ICCAT length at age database has incomplete spatial, temporal and size range coverage. However, it may be suitable as conditional age-at-length data for the Stock Synthesis model.

This document presents the current electronic tagging information available for management strategy evaluation. This information also allows to identify gaps, in sizes and geographical areas, that should be taken into account to plan future tagging activities. It also describes the status of current electronic tag databases, advantages and disadvantages of electronic tags used on Atlantic bluefin tuna and outlines the technological advances that will allow the use of different types of tags (pop-up satellite archival, archival internal and acoustic tags) to improve the description of movements of this species. The conclusions section summarizes the progress needed to develop the use of electronic tagging on Atlantic bluefin tuna.

A multiple approach to the growth of Lophius vomerinus is presented for the first time, based on age estimation of 2282 illicia (first dorsal fin ray) sections, length-frequency analyses (SLCA, ELEFAN, Bhattacharya) and corroborated by tracking cohorts. The growth is studied based on the widest time series (2000–2017) and the largest sample analyzed to date. Individuals ranging from 3 to 109 cm, representing the whole range commercially landed, were collected from annual research surveys in Namibian waters. Modification in the age interpretation using illicia is presented, suggesting a new more accurate criterion at early ages. Two main different growth patterns were obtained, being that of the length-frequency analyses faster than from illicia age estimation. Both growth patterns estimated here are faster than those from previous studies. Possible causes of differences among all studies are discussed. The von Bertalanffy growth parameters from illicia age estimation (L∞ = 110, k = 0.08, t0 = - 1.16) are proposed to be used in age-structured models for the annual assessment of this population. Growth pattern provides tracking of cohorts in the abundance-at-age matrix, with high correlation values obtained between the age abundance indices of the same year-class for most of the age groups compared. Greater lengths and ages were found in females, showing a slightly higher growth rate than males in older specimens.

The main objective of the Working Group on Biological Parameters (WGBIOP) is to review the status, issues, developments, and quality assurance of biological parameters used in assessment and management. WGBIOP (1) plans workshops, exchanges, and validation studies on a range of biological varia-bles to review the quality of information supplied for stock assessment and improve quality as-surance and training; (2) investigates data availability and develops documentation and methods to improve communication between data collectors and end-users; (3) delivers new and im-proved functionality for the SmartDots platform. Four otolith exchanges and two workshops were completed in 2020–2021 using SmartDots— eight further exchanges are ongoing. Proposed future exchanges and workshops were reviewed and approved. The development of the SmartDots platform proceeded with the inclusion of the maturity, eggs, atresia, fecundity, and larval identification modules into the software version. A live SmartDots tutorial for event coordinators was conducted. Work to further develop quality assurance guidelines—and review national applications of these—progressed. Age and maturity validation studies were reviewed and a new method for prioritizing future validation work was proposed. Progress with the Stock Identification Database (SID) was reviewed, and the potential for creating a WGBIOP library collection and active involvement of WGBIOP in updating FishBase.org data were evaluated. The importance of identifying and documenting links be-tween all relevant databases and document repositories was identified, and a task to address this was initiated. Work on improving the feedback loop between data collectors and stock assessors on the usage and quality of biological parameters in stock assessment continued. Moving forward, WGBIOP aims to continue collaboration with WGALES and WGSMART on the development of the SmartDots platform, encouraging cross-group sharing of skills and ex-perience t

This document presents the data and initial model set-up for the 2022 Stock Assessment for the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna stock. During the 2017 Data Preparatory meetings, several changes in the data used for previous assessments have been presented, among which the revision of the Task 1 and Task 2 statistics and the selection of the indices of abundance. This led to completely revisiting the catch at age matrix and the model specifications for the 2017 assessment. For the present document, the data over the historical period (1968-2015) were nearly identical, whereas the data for the years 2016-2020 and abundance indices were updated. As agreed in previous meetings, the initial model specifications were kept identical to the 2017 assessment as no change has been agreed on since then.

Somatic parameters’ estimation of megrim (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis), an economically important flatfish species and relevant one in the benthic community, is essential in fisheries biology. It helps us to deepen our understanding of the species life history traits and an adequate stock assessment and fishery management. Le Cren’s condition factor (K), weight-length relationships and weight conversion factors were studied in megrim for more than two decades time-series (1998–2019) and wide area with a relevant fishing activity and the species is distributed into two stocks: northern Bay of Biscay-nBB and Celtic Sea-CS stock, and southern Bay of BiscaysBB and Galician waters-Gw stock. Around 30,000 specimens, mostly collected from commercial landings by the research institutions IEO and AZTI, were sampled. Total fish length, total weight and commercial gutted weight were obtained, and five-year periods were defined throughout in the time-series. The influence of several factors, as seasonality, temporality, fish sex, maturity, abundance, and environmental conditions on the megrim condition were analyzed for each stock by GLM, being the season the most relevant factor. A clear seasonal pattern found for K, with the lowest values in spring, was found in both populations for the first time based on a multiyear period analysis. The pattern was more prominent in females and less marked in immature, related to the reproduction process. The lowest condition value was observed in May in nBB-CS and a month earlier in sBB-Gw (both after the spawning period). A progressive increase (favorable feeding conditions) followed to highest values in November–February, showing the relevance of K as indicator of the nutritional/reproductive status of megrim. Temporality (five-year periods) also had a much smaller effect on condition than seasonality. Megrim condition was inversely related to its abundance, and to the NAO index in the nBB-CS stock. Total weight-length, gutted weight-leng

During the 2022 Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Bluefin Tuna Data Preparatory Meeting, the Bluefin Species Group (BFTSG) agreed to revise the assumptions and update the catch-atsize/catch-at-age (CAS/CAA) intersessionally by replacing the "NEI (inflated)" partial catches component (1998-2007) with a new set of combined Mediterranean size samples. An ad-hoc small group was formed to carry out this task and proposed an alternative CAS/CAA for the 2022 E-BFT stock assessment, this document summarizes these analyses. This document provides the revised CAS (version 2b), and two CAA based on the von Bertalanffy and the Richards growth curves. The small group agreed that this revised CAS is a better estimate of the size distribution for the NEI-inflated catch and proposed to be adopted by the BFTSG, and aso recommended that this revision would be applied only to VPA (Virtual Population Analysis) and possibly ASAP (Age Structured Assessment Program).

This document presents the proposed base case for the assessment of Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean population of bluefin tuna using Stock Synthesis in 2022. The model runs from 1950 to 2020 and was fitted to length composition data, conditional age-at-length (otolith and spines–length-age pairs), 16 fishing fleets and 11 indices of abundance. Growth is modeled by a Richards function with Linf fixed at 271 cm, K fixed at 0.23387, and the shape parameter is estimated by the model. A Beverton-Holt stock recruitment relationship was estimated in the model with the steepness and sigmaR fixed at 0.9 and 0.6, respectively. R0 is freely estimated. Although the diagnostics indicate an acceptable stability of the model, there are important conflicts between the catch information, length composition and index data. The model fits to length compositions were not good, but the model followed most of the indices fairly fine. The model results showed that the SSB decreased since 1950 until 1970s, remaining relatively stable at low values during the 1980-2009 period, and showing a sharp and steady increased since 2010. Model diagnostics indicated that the different source of data provides contradicting information about the stock, resulting in biases in the results.

The capture of a female specimen of the velvet belly lantern shark Etmopterus spinax with abnormal skin coloration is reported. The specimen was captured off northern Spain (Bay of Biscay, North-eastern Atlantic) in 2021 by bottom trawling. The lack of dermal melanophores combined with a normal retinal pigmentation, lead us to considerate the specimen as leucistic. This is the first case of leucism in E. spinax and the second record of colour aberration in the family Etmopteridae. A comprehensive updated review of published literature on albinism and leucism in chondrichthyans is also provided.

Controversies remain regarding the periodicity, or seasonality, of otolith growth band formation, which directly influences a correct age determination of Atlantic bluefin tuna using this structure. The aim of this work was to apply marginal increment analysis and marginal edge analysis to determine the timing of band deposition. The index of completion was analyzed using general additive models to evaluate the importance of variables, such as month, age/size, and reader. Results indicate that the opaque band formation begins in June and is completed by the end of November. From the end of the year to the beginning of the following year, there is minimal marginal edge growth as the translucent band begins to form. The translucent zone then reaches a maximum development in May. The results obtained in this study provide evidence that the annulus formation in the otoliths of Atlantic bluefin tuna are completed later in the calendar year than previously thought. This would mean it is necessary to delay the date of the current July 1st adjustment criterion to November 30.

The 2022 Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Bluefin Tuna Data Preparatory Meeting including MSE was held online from 18 to 26 April 2022. The bluefin tuna Species Group reviewed the development of the current CMPs and recommended a Blim of 40% of dynamic SSBMSY and an overfishing metric. It was suggested to use two quilt plots with main and secondary performance metrics and "worm plots" on biomass and catches for narrowing down the list of CMPs. A Path forward was defined for the BFT MSE process and for continuing with the ambassador’s programme. The draft Terms of Reference for the E-BFT assessment were reviewed. Initial model setup for the three platforms to be used, Virtual Population Analysis, Age Structured Assessment Program and Stock Synthesis were presented. Initial data inputs and indices of abundance were reviewed by trying to harmonize the input data for this stock assessment and the current BFT MSE. Following the presentations of initial data and preliminary results for three modeling platforms a working plan was defined. GBYP matters and BFT growth in farms were addressed.

Controversies remain regarding the periodicity, or seasonality, of otolith growth band formation which directly influences a correct age determination of Atlantic bluefin tuna using otoliths. Thereby, the aim of this work was to apply marginal increment analysis (MIA) and marginal edge analysis (EA) to determine the timing of band deposition. The index of completion (MIA) was also analyzed using General Additive Models. Results indicated that the opaque band begin to form in July and would finish forming in November. From the end of the year and the beginning of the following year there is minimal marginal edge growth and this is when the translucent band begins to form and reaches its maximum development in June. MIA and EA has evidenced that the annulus has been formed in November in the Atlantic Bluefin tuna otolith. This would mean to delay the date of the current July 1st adjustment criterion to November 30.

We fit growth models to back-calculated size-at-age data for Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) captured in the western Atlantic management area to inform alternative growth scenarios within the current management framework of the species. The Modified-Fry function was the best-performing of three back-calculation functions based on a leave-one-out cross-validation for within-cohort comparisons. We fit multiple growth models to the back-calculated growth trajectories, and demonstrated that growth parameters were highly sensitive to whether the lack of independence between back-calculated lengths from each individual was accounted for by the model. Non-linear mixed-effects modelling provides a suitable approach for accounting for this lack of independence and the autocorrelation between back-calculated lengths from the same individual. We further demonstrated the utility of mixed-effects models for predicting future growth of individuals using a forecasting test. We used this modelling approach to demonstrate that male bluefin tuna had greater estimated asymptotic length than females, and found that there was no significant difference in growth parameters between individuals assigned to genetically distinct spawning stocks.

This paper describes the data used for Stock Synthesis assessment for the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna. The initial model configuration, fleet definitions, selectivity modeling and main parameterization are also outlined. The model runs from 1950 to 2020 and is fit to length composition data and pair age-length data treated as conditional age-at-length.

Forage fish species play a crucial role in most ecosystems, transferring energy from plankton to larger fishes. Therefore, understanding the factors driving the dynamics of forage fish populations is essential in marine ecosystems. Gadiculus argenteus is an important forage fish species in the Galicia and Cantabrian Sea ecosystem. In this study, the influence of several biotic and abiotic factors on the distribution of this species was examined using generalized additive models in a 2-step approach. G. argenteus habitat preference was not affected by changes in annual abundance during the study period (1998-2019). From the variables selected in the final models, depth and geographic location (latitude and longitude) were the most important factors to describe the presence of G. argenteus. Peak abundance was found on the upper slope and although the species was found throughout the study area, its higher abundance values were located in Galician waters. The species seemed to avoid coarse sand bottoms, with mean chlorophyll a concentration showing a positive effect on the presence and abundance of G. argenteus. Interestingly, the observed aggregations of G. argenteus showed a remarkable similarity to the commercial trawling footprint in the area, suggesting a strong link between the distribution of this forage species and the distribution of its predators, most of which are important commercial species. Further work should focus on a better understanding of this relationship to provide important information on the study of the structure and functioning of the marine ecosystem of the northern Spanish continental shelf.

Macrofauna associated with the bamboo coral Isidella elongata was analysed in the Balearic Basin at depths of 697–1308 m. The diversity of associated macrofauna and the specific associations identified depended on different morphological characteristics of colonies, such as height or density of rami. Species associated with Isidella consisted mainly of sessile fauna, such as cnidarians (the actinian Amphianthus dornhii and the solitary coral Desmophyllum dianthus) and cirripeds (Gibossaverruca sp.). The strongest relationship (commensalism) occurred for the Pontogeneiidae amphipod Dautzenbergia megacheir, living attached to colonies of Isidella and represented by all population stages from adult (oostegal) females and males to juveniles. Species-coral relationships between Dautzenbergia and bamboo corals (Isididae) are plausible. Dautzenbergia spp. showed morphological differences between Atlantic (described by Walker 1897 as “eyes wanting”) and Mediterranean (with well-developed reddish eyes) specimens. This would suggest diversification of this genus, as has been recently suggested for Pleustidae associated with deep gorgonians. The diversity of the macrofaunal community associated with I. elongata was higher in the most mature (larger colonies with higher density) fields found NW of Mallorca, with higher colonies than in other parts of the Mediterranean. This was the only site where Gibossaverruca sp. (a first Mediterranean faunal record) and D. dianthus were collected. These complex associations between macrofauna and deep-water corals may provide arguments to protect these fragile ecosystems as a source of faunal diversity and diversification.

The Northeast Atlantic, a highly productive maritime area, has been exposed to a wide range of direct human pressures, such as fishing, shipping, coastal development, pollution, and non-indigenous species (NIS) introductions, in addition to anthropogenically-driven global climate change. Nonetheless, this regional sea supports a high diversity of species and habitats, whose functioning provides a variety of ecosystem services, essential for human welfare. In 2017, OSPAR, the Northeast Atlantic Regional Seas Commission, delivered an assessment of marine biodiversity for the Northeast Atlantic. This assessment examined biodiversity indicators separately to identify changes in Northeast Atlantic biodiversity, but stopped short of determining the status of biodiversity for many species and habitats. Here, we expand on this work and for the first time, a semi-quantitative approach is applied to evaluate holistically the state of Northeast Atlantic marine biodiversity across marine food webs, from plankton to top predators, via fish, pelagic and benthic habitats, including xeno-biodiversity (i.e. NIS). Our analysis reveals widespread degradation in marine ecosystems and biodiversity, particularly for marine birds and coastal bottlenose dolphins, as well as for benthic habitats and fish in some regions. The poor biodiversity status of these ecosystem components is likely the result of cumulative effects of human activities, such as habitat destruction or disturbance, overexploitation, eutrophication, the introduction of NIS, and climate change. Bright spots are also revealed, such as recent signs of recovery in some fish and marine bird communities and recovery in harbour and grey seal populations and the condition of coastal benthic communities in some regions. The status of many indicators across all ecosystem components, but particularly for the novel pelagic habitats, food webs and NIS indicators, however, remains uncertain due to gaps in data, unclear pressure-state r

Elasmobranchs inhabiting depths beyond 200 m are extremely susceptible to overexploitation but are extracted by fisheries around the world either as target species or as bycatch. There is little information available to formulate management strategies to reduce elasmobranch-fishery interactions in the deep sea. In European Union waters, prohibiting the catches of deep-sea elasmobranchs has provided the necessary impetus to study by-catch avoidance of these threatened species. We used over 20 years of fisheries-independent and fisheries-dependent data to model the spatial distribution of 15 species of deep-sea elasmobranchs (12 sharks and 3 rays) captured frequently in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Azores Archipelago (Mid-Atlantic Ridge) to explore spatial management to reduce unwanted catches of these species. We applied Generalised Additive Models to predict the probability of presence of 15 species, as well as the abundance of 6 of those species, within the Azores EEZ and neighbouring seamounts (up to 2000 m depth), using environmental and operational variables as predictors. Our results identified that depth is most influential in determining the distribution of these sharks and rays, in addition to seafloor topography. Distinctive bathymetric features such as seamounts and ridges were highlighted as areas where the probability of presence of the greatest number of species overlapped. Although not related to habitat, gear type influenced the capture probability of certain species, with the artisanal handline, gorazeira, having lower captures than bottom longline. Our results support using depth-based, area-based, and gear-based tactics to design management measures to reduce elasmobranch bycatch, for more sustainable deep-sea fisheries.

In the framework of global human-induced change, marine communities’ often respond to changing conditions abruptly reorganizing into new equilibria. These shifts are difficult to predict and often imply irreversible adjustments due to hysteresis. Unraveling the role of the forces leading regime shifts is a major challenge. We explored the temporal evolution of 63 fish species representing the Cantabrian bentho-demersal community in response to environmental changes and fishing pressure in the period 1983–2018, using survey data. Via multivariate analysis and non-additive modeling of a community index and the system's main stressors, two decadal-scale regimes were revealed, suggesting a non-linear response of the community to its environment. The Integrated Resilience Assessment framework elucidated the response mechanism to the candidate stressors and allowed quantifying resilience dynamics. The decline in fishing pressure in the 1990s was associated with a gradual transition of the system, while further decline during the 2000s eroded the resilience of the system towards changes in its stressors, leading to a discontinuous response expressed as an abrupt, possibly irreversible shift in the 2010s. Given the teleconnected character of marine ecosystems, this regional study endorses the scientific effort for actions facing the dynamic impacts of climate change on exploited marine ecosystems.

The bamboo coral Isidella elongata is an engineering species that forms a characteristic biogenic habitat in the bathyal mud of the Mediterranean Sea. This habitat has been severely reduced in recent decades due to trawling impacts, and there is a growing concern about its conservation status. In this work, the habitat loss of I. elongata was computed using a novel approach that combines the realized niche of the species with the estimation of its past distribution (before trawling) to delineate potential areas of habitat loss with different levels of uncertainty. The realized niche of the species was modelled using only live colonies and including trawling effort as explanatory variable whereas the past distribution was estimated also using the leftovers of dead colonies as presences. Trawling effort had a statistically significant negative effect on the extent of the realized niche of I. elongata, confirming previous results on the impact of this pressure on its distribution. The novel approach used in this work has allowed us to map for the first time several areas of potential habitat loss for I. elongata in the studied area, opening new opportunities to provide this essential information for future management and restoration actions of vulnerable marine ecosystems worldwide.

Indicators are key tools used to assess the ecological status of the environment for ecosystem based management. Anthropogenic disturbances produce changes to habitat condition, which include modifications in species composition and their functions. Monitoring a group of sentinel species (from a taxonomic and functional point of view) provides useful insights into benthic habitat condition. Here, a new indicator, Sentinels of the Seabed (SoS) is proposed to assess state of benthic habitats using “sentinel” species (species which are characteristic of a habitat and sensitive to a given pressure). The selection of these sentinel species has two stages. First, a ‘typical species set’ is computed using intra-habitat similarity and frequency under reference conditions. Second, the ‘sentinel species set’ is generated by selecting the most sensitive species from the typical species set. This selection is made using specific indexes able to assess species sensitivity to a particular pressure. The SoS indicator method was tested on six case studies and two different pressure types (trawling disturbance and pollution), using data from otter trawl, box-corer and Remote Operate Vehicle images. In each scenario, the SoS indicator was compared to the Shannon-Wiener diversity index, Margalef index and total biomass, being the only metric, which showed the expected significant negative response to pressure in all cases. Our results shows that SoS was highly effective in assessing benthic habitats status under both physical and chemical pressures, regardless of the sampling gear, the habitat, or the case study, showing a great potential to be a useful tool in the management of marine ecosystems.

Mackerel is an important commercial pelagic species present in the western and eastern North Atlantic. The Northeast Atlantic Mackerel (NEAM) stock has its southernmost spawning area mainly located western Iberian Peninsula and southern Biscay. This species performs extensive annual migrations. The present study is focused on the distribution of this species along the Cantabrian Sea, an essential area of the South Spawning Component (SSC), and the environmental drivers that can affect its migration phenology. We have used data from Vessel Monitoring System and Logbooks of the hand line fishery to estimate the catch per unit of effort (CPUE) as a proxy of its distribution and abundance. CPUEs data of fisheries targeting NEAM provided us with a tool to discriminate the most important predictors for both its prespawning and the postspawning behavior. Among the drivers that can affect mackerel migration, we have analyzed wind speed and direction, temperature at surface (SST) and at 200 m depth, chlorophyll a, mixed layer depth, upwelling intensity, and the most representative geographical variables: depth, slope of the seafloor, and distance to coast. We used generalize additive models to highlight the predictors most closely related to the phenology of the species and to shape the spatial–temporal abundance of NEAM in the southern Bay of Biscay waters. Temperature and wind speed and direction are the most important factors that affect prespawning and postspawning migration of NEAM SSC and shape its niche tracking leading to a gradual advance of the spawning season.

A global in-situ data set for validation of ocean-colour products from the ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (OC-CCI) is presented. This version of the compilation, starting in 1997, now extends to 2021, which is important for the validation of the most recent satellite optical sensors such as Sentinel 3B OLCI and NOAA-20 VIIRS. The data set comprises in-situ observations of the following variables: spectral remote-sensing reflectance, concentration of chlorophyll-a, spectral inherent optical properties, spectral diffuse attenuation coefficient and total suspended matter. Data were obtained from multi-project archives acquired via open internet services, or from individual projects, acquired directly from data providers. Methodologies were implemented for homogenisation, quality control and merging of all data. Minimal changes were made on the original data, other than conversion to a standard format, elimination of some points after quality control and averaging of observations that were close in time and space. The result is a merged table available in text format. Overall, the size of the data set grew with 151,673 rows, with each row representing a unique station in space and time (cf 136,250 rows in previous version; Valente et al., 2019). Observations of remote-sensing reflectance increased to 68,641 (cf 59,781 in previous version; Valente et al., 2019). There was also a near tenfold increase in chlorophyll data since 2016. Metadata of each in situ measurement (original source, cruise or experiment, principal investigator) are included in the final table. By making the metadata available, provenance is better documented, and it is also possible to analyse each set of data separately. The compiled data are available at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.941318 (Valente et al., 2022).

The capture of a female specimen of the velvet belly lantern shark Etmopterus spinax with abnormal skin coloration is reported. The specimen was captured off northern Spain (Bay of Biscay, North-Eastern Atlantic) in 2021 by bottom trawling. The lack of dermal melanophores combined with a normal retinal pigmentation, lead us to considérate the specimen as leucistic. This is the first case of leucism in E. spinax and the second record of colour aberration in the family Etmopteridae.

In this paper, we discuss the importance of the efficient communication of science results to citizens across the world. In order for people to absorb information, we need to understand the principles and apply the best available means to facilitate the process of increasing global awareness of the changes. This explicitly applies to the verification of how we appeal to people with respect to various environmental issues and, hence, how we can modernize the educational approaches to challenge the global change. We state that, in order to follow the philosophy of sustainable development goals with respect to ocean issues, we need an attractive alternative to the existing areas of consumption. We also state that the ocean issues are at the core of any process aiming to secure sustainability. New methods and tools of education and scientific communication, especially those which are offered by non-formal approaches, are necessary, and we present here some of the activities of the EU4Ocean coalition as best practice examples.