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The aim of this work is to propose a novel and formal approach to evaluate the direct costs of diseases caused by different pathogens as well as their economic impact on typical Mediterranean grow-out farms culturing European sea bass under different scenarios of production related to the biomass produced (farm size) and the size of the fish produced (production strategy). We employ a deterministic static model to simulate the annual income statement of those facilities to evaluate the direct costs caused by different diseases as well as, through a partial budget and sensitivity analyses, the economic impact of them. An important conclusion of this work is that the profitability and economic viability of sea bass grow-out farms suffering recurrent outbreaks of diseases caused by different pathogens depend on the farm typology (farm size) as well as the decisions taken by owners/investors about the size of the fish produced and sold in the market. Our estimations show that as the larger is the farm and the size of the fish produced, the larger are the direct cost of a disease outbreak. However, the economic impact on the net operating profit is significantly worse as smaller is the farm and smaller the fish produced. The conclusions of this research stress the need for small producers to pay attention and devote resources to prevent and treat disease outbreaks. This study has been carried out with the financial support of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research program, Grant Agreement 727315, MedAID (Mediterranean Aquaculture Integrated Development)

Mid-ocean ridges generate a myriad of physical oceanographic processes that favor the supply of food and nutrients to suspension- and filter-feeding organisms, such as cold-water corals and deep-sea sponges. However, the pioneering work conducted along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge failed to report the presence of large and dense living coral reefs, coral gardens, or sponge aggregations. Here, we describe the densest, near-natural, and novel octocoral garden composed of large red and white colonies of Paragorgia johnsoni Gray, 1862 discovered at 545–595 m depth on the slopes of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, in the Azores region. This newly discovered octocoral garden is a good candidate for protection since it fits many of the FAO criteria that define what constitutes a Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem. The observations described here corroborate the existence of a close relationship between the octocoral structure and the ambient currents on ridge-like topographies, providing new insights into the functioning of mid-ocean ridges' ecosystems. The ubiquitous presence of biogenic and geological topographies associated with mid-ocean ridges, which could act as climate refugia, suggests their global importance for deep-sea biodiversity. A better understanding of the processes involved is, therefore, required. Our observations may inspire future deep-sea research initiatives to narrow existing knowledge gaps of biophysical connections with benthic fauna at small spatial scales along mid-ocean ridges. FEDER; Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCT info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

AbstractA new motivation for marine restoration has been observed, associated with the dissatisfaction with current marine restoration governance arrangements (MRGAs). An MRGA consists of alliances of public and private actors (coalitions) who, through their common conceptualisation of the problem (discourses), try to influence and design marine restoration activities while considering the rules of decision‐making, and the management of limited resources. Emerging MRGAs rise in parallel to existing ones and aim to contribute to the same goals or show another way of reaching those goals. This phenomenon raises questions of legitimacy both for the emerging and the existing arrangement. Building on existing literature, this paper proposes an analytical framework to simultaneously explore input, throughput and output legitimacy as three essential pre‐conditions of legitimacy for MRGAs. The framework is tested in three European cases of MRGAs that were part of the European Union MERCES project (http://www.merces-project.eu/). Analysis showed that actors who are influential in achieving restoration goals, and also those who are impacted by restoration actions, should be involved in the MRGAs (input legitimacy); actors within MRGAs should establish and follow procedures for decision‐making that are both transparent and clear (throughput legitimacy); and actors within MRGAs need to establish a common understanding of restoration, of the goal to reach and of the related uncertainties (output legitimacy). Awareness of these pre‐conditions allows actors internal and external to MRGAs to address aspects that give legitimacy to restoration actions. It also creates a language that allows actors to engage in discussion on legitimacy that goes beyond the mere application of the rule of law.

Polar stratospheric ozone has decreased since the 1970s due to anthropogenic emissions of chlorofluorocarbons and halons, resulting in the formation of an ozone hole over Antarctica. The effects of the ozone hole and the associated increase in incoming UV radiation on terrestrial and marine ecosystems are well established; however, the impact on geochemical cycles of ice photoactive elements, such as iodine, remains mostly unexplored. Here, we present the first iodine record from the inner Antarctic Plateau (Dome C) that covers approximately the last 212 years (1800-2012 CE). Our results show that the iodine concentration in ice remained constant during the pre-ozone hole period (1800-1974 CE) but has declined twofold since the onset of the ozone hole era (~1975 CE), closely tracking the total ozone evolution over Antarctica. Based on ice core observations, laboratory measurements and chemistry-climate model simulations, we propose that the iodine decrease since ~1975 is caused by enhanced iodine re-emission from snowpack due to the ozone hole-driven increase in UV radiation reaching the Antarctic Plateau. These findings suggest the potential for ice core iodine records from the inner Antarctic Plateau to be as an archive for past stratospheric ozone trends. This project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program under grant agreement no. 689443 via project iCUPE (Integrative and Comprehensive Understanding on Polar Environments), part of the European Commission (ERA-PLANET) and by the “Programma Nazionale per la Ricerca in Antartide” (PNRA, project number PNRA16_00295). This study also received funding from the European Research Council Executive Agency under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme (Project ‘ERC-2016-COG 726349 CLIMAHAL’). NCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 1852977. R.P.F. would like to express thanks for the financial support from CONICET-UNCuyo (SIIP-06/M111) and ANPCyT (PICT 2015-0714). This research was also supported by the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) project (PE20030) and by the Grant to Department of Science, Roma Tre University (MIUR-Italy Dipartimenti di Eccellenza) 9 pags., 3 figs.

AbstractThe phenotype of juvenile fish is closely associated with the adult phenotype, thus consisting an important quality trait for reared fish stocks. In this study, we estimated the correlation between the juvenile and adult body-shape in Gilthead seabream, and examined the genetic basis of the ontogenetic trajectories. The body shape of 959 pit-tagged fish was periodically examined during the juvenile-to-adult period. Individual shape ontogenetic trajectories were studied in respect to the initial (juvenile) and final (adult) phenotypes, as well as to the rate that adult phenotype is attained (phenotypic integration rate). We found that the juvenile body-shape presented a rapid change up to 192.7 ± 1.9 mm standard length, followed by a phenotypically stable period (plateau). Depending on the shape component considered, body-shape correlations between juvenile and adult stages ranged from 0.22 to 0.76. Heritability estimates (h2) of the final phenotype ranged from 0.370 ± 0.077 to 0.511 ± 0.089, whereas h2 for the phenotypic integration rate was 0.173 ± 0.062. To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating that the variance of the ontogenetic trajectories has a substantial additive genetic component. Results are discussed in respect to their potential use in selective breeding programs of Gilthead seabream.

Viral Nervous Necrosis (VNN) causes high mortality and reduced growth in farmed European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) in the Mediterranean. In the current studies, we tested a novel Pichia-produced virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine against VNN in European sea bass, caused by the betanodavirus “Red-Spotted Grouper Nervous Necrosis Virus” (RGNNV). European sea bass were immunized with a VLP-based vaccine formulated with different concentrations of antigen and with or without adjuvant. Antibody response was evaluated by ELISA and serum neutralization. The efficacy of these VLP-vaccine formulations was evaluated by an intramuscular challenge with RGNNV at different time points (1, 2 and 10 months post-vaccination) and both dead and surviving fish were sampled to evaluate the level of viable virus in the brain. The VLP-based vaccines induced an effective protective immunity against experimental infection at 2 months post-vaccination, and even to some degree at 10 months post-vaccination. Furthermore, the vaccine formulations triggered a dose-dependent response in neutralizing antibodies. Serologic response and clinical efficacy, measured as relative percent survival (RPS), seem to be correlated with the administered dose, although for the individual fish, a high titer of neutralizing antibodies prior to challenge was not always enough to protect against disease. The efficacy of the VLP vaccine could not be improved by formulation with a water-in-oil (W/O) adjuvant. The developed RGNNV-VLPs show a promising effect as a vaccine candidate, even without adjuvant, to protect sea bass against disease caused by RGNNV. However, detection of virus in vaccinated survivors means that it cannot be ruled out that survivors can transmit the virus.