According to the objectives of Frontiers in Ocean Sustainability's Blue Food Provision section, our aim is to contribute to addressing the rising challenges created on marine resources due to global change, unsustainable practices, regulatory barriers, and other constraints. We focus on existing and emerging knowledge, technologies and tools to build capacity and maximize the contribution of marine food systems to food security (i.e., fisheries and aquaculture), nutrition and affordable healthy diets, and social equality, ensuring the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The European Fish Ageing Network (EFAN) funded by the European Union, is reviewed, and assessed after a 20-year hiatus. The large number of scientists and technicians involved in this independent and informal network, and the time invested (four years), provided a significant advance in fish age estimation and methodologies. The results presented are based on two survey questionnaires sent to EFAN members, specifically to those who had been most actively involved in the programme. Overall, EFAN can be considered as successful as it fulfilled the aim of the FAIR (Fostering Awareness Inclusion and Recognition) program in improving collaboration both at a national and European levels in the field of sclerochronology. Adding to the success was that many survey participants reported a positive impact on both their creativity and scientific careers, particularly participants from university environments and the female members, and around 50% of the participants continued in their age-related research careers. These factors, as well as the positive scientific impact EFAN has had in various European countries (n = 16), point to a very successful programme. The aim of improving what is an objective approach required to interpret growth increments in calcified structures (otoliths) in fishes, is reflected in the various tools developed by EFAN, all of which are found in the many reports produced by the Network. Examples are seen in the quality control approach by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), where tools developed by EFAN have been key to their fisheries management approach. Our general impression is that a project with a lifetime of around four years in principle provides a suitable time period to develop age estimation tools, quality control routines, and working procedures to improve the use of fish age data for fish stock assessments. We argue however, that developing a functioning network requires more time than a conventional project. Therefore, to fully meet the aims of projects such as EFAN, a period of between 10 and 15 years is a more appropriate time frame for these types of programmes to run. A longer time scale can help ensure recommendations are regularly followed, can provide more confidence in on-going routine age estimation data, and so achieve a significant improvement in the application of ageing methods. In turn a more accurate and robust scientific outcome would be available for European fish stock assessments.

Harald Dannevig was Australia's first Director of fisheries research and Director of Australia's first ocean-going research vessel. Dannevig's initial contributions concerned hatchery technology, freshwater fisheries, and impacts of estuarine prawn trawling. Later, he revealed the growth and migration of sea mullet, the spawning of pelagic eggs in the coastal ocean, and he was the first to demonstrate the effect of onshore winds on recruitment to estuarine fisheries. Using plans of the first Norwegian research trawler Michael Sars, he advised on the construction and commissioning of Endeavour. He organized 99 research voyages over 6years to determine suitable trawling grounds over similar to 7000km, discovering 263 new species, including 96 new fish species and similar to 5000 catalogued specimens. Harald Dannevig's significant achievements in Australia were soon forgotten after his death with the loss of Endeavour in the Southern Ocean at the beginning of World War I. Both Johan Hjort and Dannevig were numerate, loved natural history, and were keenly observant on the deck. As these two scientists did not correspond, their innovative and parallel thinking stems from the shared university environment with G.O. Sars, and the rapport between Sars and Harald's father Gunder Dannevig, concerning the fish hatchery and stocking of larval cod.

Beatriz Morales-Nin (Chair) IMEDEA Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) , Universidad de las Islas Baleares Erlend Moksness Institute of Marine Research Norway, Norway Fiona Tomas Nash IMEDEA Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) , Universidad de las Islas Baleares Ionan Marigomez Universidad del País Vasco, Spain Javier Ruiz ICMAN – Instituto de Ciencias Marinas de Andaluzia, Spain

In comparison to tropical reef systems, relatively few marine protected areas (MPA's) exist in temperate or subarctic systems (e.g., North Pacifi c and North Atlantic) where species diversity is lower, abundance of individual species is often higher, and many fi sh species exhibit large amounts of movement during one or more of their life stages, especially as adults.A review of MPA's in three northern areas-the Northwest Atlantic, Northeast Atlantic, and the Northeast Pacifi c-indicates that MPA's can be useful management tools towards fi sheries management and habitat conservation.However, achieving fi shery goals,

Contributors vii Preface ix Acronyms x Introduction 1 Tore Jakobsen, Michael J. Fogarty, Bernard A. Megrey and Erlend Moksness Part I Biology, Population Dynamics, and Recruitment Chapter 1 Recruitment in Marine Fish Populations 11 Michael J. Fogarty and Loretta O Brien Chapter 2 Reproductive Dynamics 50 Dimitri A. Pavlov and Natal ya G. Emel yanova Chapter 3 Recruitment Variability 98 Edward D. Houde Chapter 4 Effects of Fishing on the Population 188 Marie-Joelle Rochet and Lise Marty Part II Information Critical to Successful Assessment and Management Chapter 5 Egg, Larval, and Juvenile Surveys 229 Nancy C.H. Lo, Paul E. Smith, and Motomitsu Takahashi Chapter 6 Stock Identification 252 Gavin A. Begg and Steven X. Cadrin Chapter 7 Stock Assessment Models and Predictions of Catch and Biomass 279 John G. Pope Chapter 8 Applied Fisheries Reproductive Biology: Contribution of Individual Reproductive Potential to Recruitment and Fisheries Management 321 Olav S. Kjesbu Part III Incorporation of Reproductive Biology and Recruitment Considerations into Management Advice and Strategies Chapter 9 Current Paradigms and Forms of Advice 369 Kevern L. Cochrane Chapter 10 Management: New Approaches to Old Problems 395 Carl M. O Brien Chapter 11 Implementing Information on Stock Reproductive Potential in Fisheries Management: The Motivation, Challenges and Opportunities 438 C. Tara Marshall Species Index 465 Subject Index 468 A colour plate section falls between pages 292 and 293

The demand for scientific knowledge in coastal zone governance is increasing, and multi-disciplinary science is now a requirement for most policy initiatives. Coastal zone management is highly complex, as many of the governance objects, drivers and effects are transitory and dynamic. In addition, coastal governance is usually conducted within a complex and fragmented institutional framework. This drive towards more knowledge-intensive coastal management is discussed here in the context of the apparent change in approach from integrated coastal management towards ecosystem-based management. This chapter presents some lessons learned from a case study to implement integrated coastal zone management in the Risør municipality on the Norwegian south coast, conducted as part of the EU-sponsored SPICOSA research program. Focus is on knowledge requirements and geographical scale and these issues are discussed in relation to the change in approach to coastal management.

Understanding the drivers of the productivity of marine ecosystems continues to be a globally important issue. A vast body of literature identifies 3 main processes that regulate the production dynamics of fisheries: biophysical, exploitative, and trophodynamic. Here, we synthe- size results from international workshops in which surplus production models were applied to 13 northern hemisphere ecosystems that support notable fisheries. The results are compared across systems, levels of species aggregation, and drivers. By applying surplus production models at sin- gle- species (SS), multi-species (MS), aggregated group, and full-system levels across ecosystems, we find that the different levels of aggregation provide distinct, but complementary, information. Further, it is clear that the triad of drivers contributes to fisheries productivity in each ecosystem, but the key drivers are system-specific. Our results also confirm that full-system yield is less than the sum of SS yields and that some MS and aggregate yields may lead to overharvest of some stocks if species groups are constructed without considering common productivity, inter-species, and en vironmental interactions. Several fundamental features emerge from this Theme Section including sigmoidal biomass accumulation curves across trophic levels, improvement of model fits by inclusion of environmental or ecological covariates, the inequality of system maximum sustain- able yield (MSY) versus aggregated sums and SS sums of MSY, a 1 to 5 t km �2 fishery yield rule of thumb, and the finding that tradeoffs among ocean use objectives may not be as harsh as origi- nally thought. These emergent features have the potential to alter our understanding of marine ecosystem dynamics and improve how we manage fisheries production.

This paper introduces the MEPS Theme Section (TS) 'Comparative Analysis of Marine Fisheries Production'. The unifying theme of the studies in the TS is the relative influence of a 'triad of drivers' - fishing, trophodynamic, and environmental - on fisheries production. The studies were developed during 2 international workshops held in 2010 and 2011, which assembled a database of fisheries, trophodynamic, and environmental time series from 13 northern hemisphere marine ecosystems, and applied a common production-modeling approach to this data. The studies encompass empirical examinations of the datasets, production models fitted to the data at multiple levels of organization from single species to full ecosystems, and simulation studies examining the impacts of climate effects and alternative management strategies on fisheries production. The body of work presented in the TS demonstrates that using both production modeling and the comparative approach together makes rapid progress towards ecosystem-based fishery management, whether the aim is a better understanding of the ecosystem or the provision of operational management advice.

A workshop of over 100 participants, balanced between fisheries management and biodiversity conservation backgrounds, reviewed and synthesised experiences regarding policy and institutional frameworks for use of MPAs in the contexts of fisheries management and conservation of biological diversity. The workshop concluded that although fisheries managers and biodiversity conservation agencies may give differing and sometimes opposing weights to the many objectives that could be set for MPAs, only 25% of fisheries objectives and 30% of biodiversity objectives were considered to be potential sources of conflict. MPAs that segregate activities in space could contribute to resolving all but one of the potential conflicts over objectives associated with desired ecological outcomes. Conflicts over social or economic objectives could be improved, made worse, or not be affected by MPAs, depending on how the MPAs were developed and managed. Seven features of planning processes and six features of the governance processes for MPAs were identified that could help find broadly supported solutions to the conflicts that did occur. Once established, the management of the MPA should be inclusive and participatory, as well as continuously learning and adaptive. Approaches to ensure management had those properties were identified, including twelve specific mechanisms that should be available to the MPA managers. On the basis of these conclusions about objectives, planning, and management, a general framework for the governance of MPAs for both fisheries and biodiversity conservation was developed. Its ten general characteristics and twelve steps necessary for progress were identified. We discuss the special challenges of establishing and managing MPAs for fisheries and biodiversity conservation on the high seas that deserve further attention include information-sharing, coordination and defining jurisdictions and stake-holding.

The MEPS Theme Section on 'Comparative Analysis of Marine Fisheries Production' is dedicated to Dr. Bernard Megrey. Dr. Megrey was well known for comparative studies of ecosystems, but his contributions to science were far broader. His pioneering of comparative marine ecosystem studies began long before they achieved a high profile in the field. He played a leading role in a number of international projects comparing marine ecosystems in northern hemisphere countries, and championed the use of simple but robust models for this purpose. He was central in organizing a successful trilateral workshop that modeled stock production in the USA, Canada and Norway. This was followed up by the Surplus Production Modelling Workshop in Woods Hole in 2011, which encompassed a broader range of modeling approaches, as well as additional countries and their associated marine ecosystems. The resulting manuscripts are presented in this Theme Section. Dr. Megrey's flair for bringing together scientists with diverse perspectives led to a cohesiveness among such disparate scientists, resulting in the successful completion of this and related workshops and ultimately the works in this Theme Section.

Recreational fishing has become an important part of the Norwegian tourist industry. The coastal municipality of Risor, southern Norway, is considering further development of its marine fishing tourism to increase local economic benefits, but they also want to limit negative effects on the local ecosystem and for the inhabitants. We developed an integrated model with ecosystem and socioeconomic components to evaluate these trade-offs. We chose the status of the local cod (Gadus morhua) stock as an indicator of the marine ecosystem condition. Cod is a highly valued species in tourist and recreational fisheries throughout Norway, and also supports an important commercial fishery. Five management scenarios are presented and compared to the status quo. Our research illustrates how an ecosystem model can assist local authorities in making rational coastal zone management decisions. Our study also revealed a lack of management instruments for local authorities to develop natural resource-based tourism in Norway, and thus the need for the municipality to cooperate and coordinate with other management units and levels.

Understanding the drivers that dictate the productivity of marine ecosystems continues to be a globally important issue. A vast literature identifies three main processes that regulate the production dynamics of such ecosystems: biophysical, exploitative and trophodynamic. Exploring the prominence among this ‘triad’ of drivers, through a synthetic analysis, is critical for understanding how marine ecosystems function and subsequently produce fisheries resources of interest to humans. To explore this topic further, an international workshop was held on 10–14 May 2010, at the National Academy of Science's Jonsson Center in Woods Hole, MA, USA. The workshop compiled the data required to develop production models at different hierarchical levels (e.g. species, guild, ecosystem) for many of the major Northern Hemisphere marine ecosystems that have supported notable fisheries. Analyses focused on comparable total system biomass production, functionally equivalent species production, or simulation studies for 11 different marine fishery ecosystems. Workshop activities also led to new analytical tools. Preliminary results suggested common patterns driving overall fisheries production in these ecosystems, but also highlighted variation in the relative importance of each among ecosystems.

Trabajo presentado en ICES ASC 2010 (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Annual Science Conferente), celebrada en Nantes (Francia), del 20 al 24 de septiembre de 2010

An experimental study was performed to disentangle parental and environmental effects on the growth of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua larvae and juveniles. Eggs were collected during the spawning season from spawning pairs (families) kept separately in specially designed spawning compartments. Newly hatched larvae were released simultaneously into two mesocosms of 2,500 and 4,400 m(3). Larval growth was monitored by sampling over a 10 week period, after which juveniles were transferred to on-growing tanks, where they were tagged and kept for up to 2 years. Maternal origin was determined by individual microsatellite genotyping of the larvae (n = 3949, 24 families) and juveniles (n = 600). The results showed significant positive correlations between egg size and larval size during the whole mesocosm period. Correlations, however, weakened with time and were no longer significant at the first tank-rearing sampling at an age of 9 months. Significant family-specific differences in growth were observed. The coefficient of variation (c.v.) was calculated in order to examine variation in standard length of larvae during the mesocosm period. Inter-family c.v. was on average 69% of intra-family c.v. Differences in zooplankton densities between the two mesocosms were reflected in larval growth, condition factor and c.v. Low food abundance appeared to reduce c.v. and favour growth of larvae that showed relatively slow growth at high food abundance. It is suggested that genetically determined variation in growth potential is maintained by environmental variability.

The papers in this special issue seek to evaluate how ecosystem structure and function interact to support fisheries production. We particularly elucidate which processes amplify or dampen spatial and temporal variation in that production within and between ecosystems. This paper attempts to assess the contribution of marine comparative ecosystem analysis to knowledge of the factors that affect the structure and function of marine ecosystems. We introduce the reader to the special volume, briefly highlighting the manuscripts in this special issue as organized by various thematic emphases. Papers in this volume are reviewed and briefly summarized with respect to current approaches, applications, opportunities, and lessons learned. Several approaches, applied to ecosystems over different spatial and temporal periods as well as the application of innovative statistical methods, facilitated comparisons and revealed basic underlying patterns that would not have been observable if only one ecosystem had been examined. Results imply that deeper eastern ocean boundary systems are more strongly influenced by bottom-up forcing; that shallower western ocean boundary systems, mainly continental shelves, are more strongly influenced by top-down forcing; and that synchronous events have taken place around the world’s oceans. In many examples, it appears as if fisheries landings have shifted in emphasis from groundfish to invertebrates and that fish communities have shifted from a demersal to pelagic dominated groups. The benthos is an important, but understudied component of most ecosystems. We advocate database standardization at the onset of comparative studies as a mechanism to facilitate effective comparisons in future studies. Effective marine ecosystem comparisons require large, multi-national collaborations.