The management of multispecies fisheries, such as the Mediterranean bottom trawl fishery, is always a challenge. However, information on gear selectivity and discards has been studied separately so far. In this paper, the overall size-selection pattern by the trawl codend in the sea and by the fisher onboard the vessel is investigated for four commercially important fish species, Mullus barbatus, ...

Size selectivity and catch efficiency of six diamond-mesh codends with different mesh sizes, 25–54 mm (termed as D25-D54), for conger pike (Muraenesox cinereus) were tested and compared using the covered codend method in the South China Sea (SCS). In order to address the present minimum mesh size (MMS) regulations of the trawl fishery for conger pike in the SCS, we quantified the selective properties ...

Traditional morphological methods for species identification are highly time consuming, especially for small organisms, such as Foraminifera, a group of shell-building microbial eukaryotes. To analyze large amounts of samples more efficiently, species identification methods have extended to molecular tools in the last few decades. Although a wide range of phyla have good markers available, for ...

Despite the recent advances in cancer therapeutics, highly aggressive cancer forms, such as glioblastoma (GBM), still have very low survival rates. The intracellular scaffold protein syntenin, comprising two postsynaptic density protein-95/discs-large/zona occludens-1 (PDZ) domains, has emerged as a novel therapeutic target in highly malignant phenotypes including GBM. Here, we report the development ...

Monitoring the distribution of marine non-indigenous species is a challenging task. To support this monitoring, we developed and validated the specificity of 12 primer-probe assays for detection of environmental DNA (eDNA) from marine species all non-indigenous to Europe. The species include sturgeons, a Pacific red algae, oyster thief, a freshwater hydroid from the Black Sea, Chinese mitten crab, ...

DNA metabarcoding is broadly used in biodiversity studies encompassing a wide range of organisms. Erroneous amplicons, generated during amplification and sequencing procedures, constitute one of the major sources of concern for the interpretation of metabarcoding results. Several denoising programs have been implemented to detect and eliminate these errors. However, almost all denoising software ...

A criticism against individual-based stated preference surveys is that people seldom make choices in social isolation. An approach used in response to this is deliberative valuation. We conduct a series of valuation workshops including a choice experiment. This involves providing respondents with information and opportunity to discuss. They made their choices individually both before and after the ...

Marine or maritime spatial planning (MSP) works across borders and sectors to ensure human activities at sea take place in an efficient and sustainable way. The ecosystem service (ES) concept links ecosystem functioning to human wellbeing and has emerged as a potential framework supporting MSP, as it can be used to link different sectorial and environmental policies. However, due to the complexity ...

Marine biota are redistributing at a rapid pace in response to climate change and shifting seascapes. While changes in fish populations and community structure threaten the sustainability of fisheries, our capacity to adapt by tracking and projecting marine species remains a challenge due to data discontinuities in biological observations, lack of data availability, and mismatch between data and ...

The extension of market systems and economic appraisal methods to the natural world and allocation of scarce resources is highly controversial and viewed by some as unethical. This has resulted in questions about the appropriate role of valuation and appraisal methods in informing policy and decision-making. We address this issue by assessing the different points of view that exist in marine research, ...