Theme Sessions
- Assessing the relative contribution of different sources of mortality in the early life stages of fishes
- The contribution of mechanistic behavioural and physiological studies on fish larvae to ecosystem models
- Effects of oil and natural gas surveys, extraction activity and spills on fish early life stages
- Quality indicators for larval fishes: wild vs. cultured
- Contributed papers session for all other topics
Scroll down the page for details.
Assessing the relative contribution of different sources of mortality in the early life stages of fishes
Organized by Richard Nash, Audrey Geffen and Guðrún Marteinsdóttir.
Papers presented at this session can be submitted for publication as a themed grouping of articles in the ICES Journal of Marine Science. Contact the session organizers and/or Howard Browman for details.
One of the major unknowns in the early life history of fishes is a detailed knowledge of the mortality schedules through this life history phase. In addition to a lack of detailed quantitative information on mortality rates there is also a general lack of unequivocal evidence for the causes of mortality and how this changes over time. Reductions in abundance from eggs through to settlement on nursery grounds inevitably occur as a result of a range of causes. Losses can occur from physical transport mechanisms whereby eggs and larvae advected to unsuitable habitats or through pathogens or predation, to name a few. Also the mortality can be prolonged over a relatively large portion of the early life history or confined to transient events such as a ’chance’ predation event or window. For example, the transition period between the larvae in the water column and juveniles on nursery grounds may represent a key episode when animals are most vulnerable to a broad range of predators. Furthermore, the relative roles of density independent versus density dependent processes are still largely unknown. The goal of this session is to bring together empirical and modelling studies that can quantify such mortalities in order to assess the significance of each process in determining the numbers of individuals that reach a suitable nursery habitat.
Confirmed keynote speakers
- Pierre Pepin, Fisheries & Oceans Canada, Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre, POB 5667, St John, Newfoundland A1C 5X1 Canada. (Trophic dynamics and mortality rates of fish eggs and larvae: setting boundaries on our understanding in the face of environmental change and alternate steady states).
- Ignacio A. Catalan, CSIC UIB, Inst Mediterrani Estudis Avancats, 21 Miquel Marques, Esporles 07190, Illes Balears Spain. (Life and death at the bottleneck: causes and consequences of fish mortality rates at the edge of the planktonic phase).
The contribution of mechanistic behavioural and physiological studies on fish larvae to ecosystem models
Organized by Frode Vikebø and Geir Huse.
Papers presented at this session can be submitted for publication as a themed grouping of articles in the ICES Journal of Marine Science. Contact the session organizers and/or Howard Browman for details.
Ecosystem/process modelling is becoming a central component of the ecosystem based approach to managing marine resources. Recent studies have emphasized the incorporation of flexible individual behavior motivated through individual states and environmental cues resulting in emergent rather than imposed responses. However, an important limitation of these models is the scarcity of empirical observations to parameterize them. This session will bring together empirical researchers with numerical modellers in an attempt to improve the realism of model parameterization.
Confirmed keynote speakers
- Claire B. Paris-Limouzy, Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, Assist. Professor of Applied Marine Physics, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149-1098, USA (how behaviour and orientation ability of fish larvae affect their transport and distributuion)
- Corinna Schrum, Professor of Physical Oceanography, Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen
Effects of oil and natural gas surveys, extraction activity and spills on fish early life stages
Organized by Sonnich Meier, Bjørn Einar Grøsvik and Erik Olsen.
Papers presented at this session can be submitted for publication as a themed grouping of articles in the ICES Journal of Marine Science. Contact the session organizers and/or Howard Browman for details.
Offshore oil production is associated with significant environmental risks, as demonstrated by the recent Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Major accidental oil spills, due to blowouts or oil tanker incidents are, however, only one of the many sources of oil pollution in the aquatic environment. Small oil spills, from “every-day” spills, or operational discharges of water from offshore platform activity (or from oil-sand production), may also represent significant inputs of oil compounds into the ecosystem. Fish embryos and larvae are sensitive to low concentrations of dissolved oil compounds. Given the importance of fish early life stages in determining the size of high-value fish stocks, there is a need for more research on how oil and oil dispersants affect the development of fish embryos and larvae. Such information is also required for risk assessment. Therefore, this theme session will focus on how oil compounds affect the early life stages of fish and if these effects can influence recruitment and have long term effects on fish populations.
Confirmed keynote speakers
- John Incardona, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Environmental Conservation Division, Ecotoxicology & Environmenatal Fish Health Program, 2725 Montlake Blvd E, Seattle, WA 98112 USA. "Relationships between larval-lethal impacts of embryonic crude oil exposure and long-term sublethal impacts."
- Mace G. Barron, US Environmental Protection Agency, Gulf Ecology Division, Gulf Breeze, FL 32561 USA. "The photoenhanced toxicity of oil to larval fish."
- Peter Hodson, School of Environmental Studies, Department of Biology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada (“The exposure of fish embryos to spilled oil”)
- Kevin Kleinow, Louisiana State University, School Veterinary Medicine, Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences 1909 Skip Bertman Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USA ("Deep Water Horizon and fish development: A story of transport, exposure, dispersants, and gene expression")
Quality indicators for larval fishes: wild vs. cultured
Organized by Lee A. Fuiman and Amos Tandler.
Understanding the meaning of larval quality is essential for successful production of fish in aquaculture and for experimental work aimed at understanding processes that affect natural fish populations. What are the indicators of high larval quality and how can we maximize larval quality in mass rearings? This session is intended to explore various indicators of larval quality in aquaculture and experimental research and the mechanisms through which rearing conditions can influence larval quality. Examining larval quality in both contexts is intended to develop a broader understanding of the needs of larval fishes.
Keynote speaker
- Amos Tandler, National Center for Mariculture, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Eilat, Israel ("Quality of fingerlings via nutritional, physiological and epigenetic research; A key for successful aquaculture")
|
