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Background: Globally, there is growing concern regarding the impact of pharmaceutical pollution on aquatic wildlife. In recent years, a primary research focus has been if, and how, exposure to pharmaceuticals alters animal behaviour—a key determinant of animal reproduction and survival. Scientists, environmental managers, and policy-makers alike, are increasingly interested in using behavioural endpoints in chemical regulation. With pharmaceutical pollution recognized as an emerging environmental concern, and an international spotlight placed on their management, synthesizing the data currently available is an incredibly timely and necessary step. Objectives: The objective of this systematic map is to identify, catalogue, and synthesize all studies on the effects of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals on aquatic wildlife behaviour, with a particular focus on pharmaceuticals that are psychoactive, psychiatric or behaviour-modifying. Search and criteria: The literature search will be conducted using electronic databases (e.g., Web of Science, Scopus). The search string has been developed using a “PECO” framework, to capture eligible studies that used an aquatic organism (P, population), to test the impacts of a pharmaceutical (E, exposure) on behaviour (O, outcome). Eligible studies must also have a control group (C, comparison). Studies will be screened in two stages, title and abstract screening, followed by full-text screening and data extraction. Decision trees have been designed a priori to appraise studies for inclusion at both stages of screening. Both stages will be completed by two independent reviewers. A minimum of one reviewer inclusion is needed for title-abstract screening, and two reviewers must agree on the inclusion/exclusion criteria for full-texting screening. Synthesis: The information extracted from the included studies, as well as their bibliometric data, will be mapped, synthesized, and analysed. The results will be published open-access, and all data associated with the study will be publicly available through an open online database.

Monitoring data is important in ecological research, but differences between and within areas or species in data collection methods could introduce bias in the analyses. Standardizing data collection is particularly important when monitoring migratory species that have a distribution that crosses several national borders. The European Eel Anguilla anguilla is an extreme example of such a species since it constitutes one stock across the entire distribution area. One important variable collected for the European Eel is maturation stage. This data is needed to monitor silver eel escapement to assess population trends. To determine maturation, data on length, weight, diameter of the eyes, and pectoral fin length are used to calculate Pankhurst eye index and Durif's silver index. In this study, we investigated effects of precision and interobserver variability on data collection relevant for maturation stage determination according to Pankhurst and Durif's indices. We found that eye diameter differed in size between the left and right eyes; however, the mean difference (0.19 mm) is probably an artifact of the large sample size (n = 16,977) and can be regarded as being within the measurement precision. Meanwhile, there was no significant difference in pectoral fin length. These results suggest that either side of the eel could be used without losing precision. Visually determined maturation stage classifications differed from those calculated with Pankhurst and Durif's indices but could still provide useful information; hence, it is recommended to collect this variable. Measurements performed using computer software generated greater precision than using calipers, which increased interobserver variability. Since the difference was relatively small and since computer analysis of images may not always be an option, measuring method can be decided based on the level of precision needed in each case. These suggested implementations can reduce observation bias and streamline the data collection used for stock assessments of the European Eel.

The Joint EIFAAC/ICES/GFCM Working group on eels (WGEEL) met by correspondence and video conference from September 7 – 10 September and 27 September – 4 October in 2021 to assess the state of the European eel and its fisheries, investigate the effects of contaminants on the reproductive capacity of the eel stock, discuss the findings of WKFEA, further identify issues specific to the Mediterranean region and report on any updates to the scientific basis of the advice, new and emerging threats or opportunities. For a better integration of the Mediterranean area, new members joined WGEEL, providing data and support as regional experts. This is considered an important step in a continuous process to identify and address Mediterranean-specific issues and harmonize the efforts of WGEEL and the recent ‘GFCM research Programme on European Eel’. The recruitment of European eel strongly declined from 1980 to 2011. The glass eel recruitment compared to that in 1960–1979 in the “North Sea” index area was 0.6% in 2021 (provisional) and 0.9 % in 2020 (final). In the “Elsewhere Europe” index series it was 5.4 % in 2021 (provisional) and 7.1% in 2020 (final), based on available dataseries. For the yellow eel dataseries, recruitment for 2020 was 16% (final) of the 1960–1979 level; the 2021data collection for yellow eel is ongoing. Time-series from 1980 to 2021 show that recruitment has stopped decreasing in 2011 but the trend thereafter is rather unclear.Preliminary analyses of 160 dataseries on yellow or silver eel abundance show the potential of the yellow and silver eels’ series to improve the stock assessment. A comprehensive framework of analyses of the yellow and silver stocks through these series will, however, require many iterations of data collection, analyses and further data needs.Mortality and biomass indicators have been reviewed and visualized, preparing for a future workshop on the evaluation of eel management plans (WKEMP). Spatial overviews and temporal trends show a lack of data for many regions and no evidence yet of a general improvement in stock status for regions with data. Overall silver eel escapement remains low and mortalities high. Doubts remain about the consistency of indicators across countries. The information provided on data and methods used for assessment are not available or sufficiently detailed to ensure transparency and reproducibility of estimates. These limitations and the incomplete reporting impair the use of these data to inform on the status of the stock at a larger scale.A review on the effects of contaminants (in a broader sense: spawner quality) on the reproductive capacity of eel highlighted this as an important, but a frequently lacking, aspect of stock assessment. Monitoring of silver eel quality should be considered as part of new or existing programmes.WGEEL supports the findings WKFEA and the suggested roadmap and agreed to implement the necessary steps towards achieving it. This implies further exploration and analyses of existing as well as the systematic collection of additional data. Implementation will require concerted data collection and assessment, which will require additional support.In summary, the working group has focused on exploring and analysing the data collected in the WGEEL database for their potential use in stock assessment. This included identifying gaps in the available data, defining data requirements for specific analyses in future and developing procedures for the analysis of these data. Furthermore, the group reviewed the effects of contamination on the reproductive potential of eels and renewed their recommendation to consider these in the assessment of effective spawning-stock biomass.

Water is one of our most important natural resources and access to clean water is a matter forboth current and future generations. During the past decades, overexploitation, pollution, andclimate change has led to serious consequences in the water section around the world. Not onlywater but also sanitation are cornerstones of sustainable development. Ensuring accessibilityand sustainable management of those two for mankind is also one of the UN:s global sustainability goals (goal number six). The EU Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) is oneof the legal tools mainly used to ensure the conservation of water resources. In Sweden, wehave sixteen (16) national environmental goals, several of which concern small sewers. Swedenhas since the year 2000 adopted the WFD. The directive aims to take joint responsibility withinthe Union for the long-term and sustainable use of water resources. In Sweden is the overallgoal for water management to achieve good water status by the year 2027. Good status meansboth good ecological and good chemical status. Good status is to be achieved for both inlandand coastal waters. How WFD has been implemented in the various parts that together worksto achieve the goal of good water quality in the EU and Sweden is shown, (among other things),by the environmental quality standards. The environmental quality standards have been developed for example water. The environmental quality standards for water (example lakes) andgroundwater where the purpose to ensure Sweden´s water quality. The environmental qualitystandards govern environmental work in, for example, supervision of so-called water activitiesand environmental hazardous activities. It is up to the municipalities to ensure that the standardsare followed. It is also the municipalities that primarily have the operational supervision regarding compliance with the provisions of the Environmental Code.

I rapporten kan du ta del av bedömningen som görs av situationen för bestånd som regleras inom ramen för EU:s gemensamma fiskeripolitik (GFP). Bedömningarna baseras på det forskningssamarbete och den rådgivning som sker inom det Internationella Havsforskningsrådet (ICES). Totalt redovisas underlag och råd för 48 fisk- och skaldjursarter. De bestånd som förvaltas nationellt baseras på de biologiska underlagen, och rådgivningen i huvudsak på den forskning och övervakning samt analys som bedrivs av Institutionen för akvatiska resurser vid Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU Aqua) samt yrkesfiskets rapportering.

Additional file 1. Supplementary materials, containing supplementary figures, tables, and methods.

Ocean acidification – deceasing oceanic pH resulting from the uptake of excess atmospheric CO2 – is expected to affect marine life in the future. Among the possible consequences, a series of studies on coral reef fishes suggested that the direct effects of acidification on fish behaviour will be the most catastrophic. Recent studies documenting a lack of effect of experimental ocean acidification on fish behaviour, however, call this dire prediction into question. Here, we critically assess the past decade of ocean acidification research regarding direct effects on fish behaviour. Using a meta-analysis, we provide quantitative evidence that the research to date on this topic is strongly characterized by a phenomenon known as the “decline effect”, where large effects have all but disappeared over a decade. The decline effect in this field cannot be explained biologically, but is strongly associated with well-known biases to which the process of science is generally prone. We contend that ocean acidification does not have as much of a direct impact on fish behaviour as previously thought, and we advocate for improved approaches to minimize the potential for a decline effect in future avenues of research.

The partial pressure of CO2 in the oceans has increased rapidly over the past century, driving ocean acidification (OA) and sparking concern for the stability of marine ecosystems. Coral reef fishes are predicted to be especially susceptible to end-of-century OA, based on several high-profile papers reporting profound behavioural and sensory impairments (e.g., complete attraction to the chemical cues of predators under OA). In contrast, here we comprehensively and transparently show that end-of-century OA has negligible impacts on critical behaviours of coral reef fishes (i.e., avoidance of predator chemical cues, activity levels, and behavioural lateralisation). Using data simulations, we show that the large effect sizes and small within-group variance reported in several previous studies are highly improbable. Together, our findings indicate that reported effects of OA on coral reef fish behaviour are not reproducible, suggesting that behavioural perturbations will not be a major consequence for coral reef fishes in high CO2 oceans.