Publication Abstract

J. Robert Britton, Andrew Harrison, Adrian C. Pinder, Demetra Andreou, Fatima Amat Trigo, Gwladys Lambert, Kieran Hyder

The successful stewardship and management of marine biological resources needs evidence-based approaches informed by rigorous science. With many marine fishes occupying multiple habitats across wide spatial areas and numerous jurisdictions, the risks of considerable knowledge gaps within their evidence base are high. Here, the Northern stock unit of European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax (“bass”) is the focal fish for completing literature syntheses to identify extant biological and ecological knowledge gaps, and their importance for management and stewardship. The bass lifecycle involves off-shore spawning, larval dispersal and settlement to inshore and estuarine nurseries, with fish showing high fidelity to these areas. However, tagging and tracking studies suggest some mixing of fish across larger spatial areas, although the extent of mixing remains uncertain, especially as the results of population genetic structuring differ across markers. Accordingly, while the inshore biology and ecology of the northern bass stock are well understood, knowledge gaps on their population and stock connectivity and structuring remain. Overcoming these gaps is challenging through limitations in telemetry methods and a lack of genetic markers for identifying structuring. Stakeholders need to agree common goals and approaches if science is to deliver more informed stewardship and sustainable bass fisheries.