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One would hypothesize that the Common Fisheries Policy, as the umbrella framework for fisheries management in the EU would have the greatest impact on fishers' communities across Europe. There are, however, biological, economic, social, and political factors, which vary among fishing communities that can affect how these communities react to changes. This paper explores the links between institutional arrangements and ecological dynamics in two European inshore fisheries socio-ecological systems, using a resilience framework. The Mediterranean small-scale fishers do not seem to have been particularly affected by the Common Fisheries Policy regulations but appear affected by competition with the politically strong recreational fishers and the invasion of the rabbit fish population. The inshore fishers along the East coast of Scotland believe that their interests are not as sufficiently protected as the interests of their offshore counterpart. Decisions and initiatives at global, EU, and sometimes national level, tend to take into account those fisheries sectors which have a national economic importance. A socio-ecological analysis can shift the focus from biological and economic aspects to more sustainable long-term delivery of environmental benefits linked to human wellbeing.

Prior to joining the European Union, Malta operated a 25nm Exclusive Fishing Zone that was retained as a Fisheries Conservation Zone (FCZ) following EU membership. The present study was conducted in this FCZ as part of the ongoing MEDITS trawl survey programme. Otter trawl samples were collected from muddy bottoms at depths of 100-300m. The catch from each haul was sorted into commercial and non-commercial components, and fauna were identified and counted. Samples for analyses of infauna and sediment characteristics were collected using a 0.0625m² capacity box-corer. Macrofaunal abundance data for the stations were analysed using ordination techniques (nMDS) and relationships between environmental variables and faunal assemblages were explored by superimposing individual variables on the two-dimensional nMDS plots. The analyses clearly separated the commercial species into two distinct groups of assemblages that seemed to be defined principally by depth: those from inshore and south-eastern stations (depth range 100-250m) and those from north-western stations (depth range 250-300m). The non-commercial species showed a similar pattern with assemblages from inshore stations grouping together; however, the offshore stations had a greater variability in non-target species composition, especially for infauna. For the offshore stations, geographical position seemed to be important since stations off the north-western coast of the Maltese islands grouped separately from those off south-eastern Malta. ; peer-reviewed

Aim: Trawling is the most widespread direct human disturbance on the seabed. Knowledge of the extent and consequences of this disturbance is limited because large-scale distributions of seabed fauna are not well known. We map faunal distributions in the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and quantify the proportion of their abundance that occurs in areas 1) that are directly trawled and 2) where legislation permanently prohibits trawling—defined as percentage exposure or protection, respectively. Our approach includes developing a method that integrates data from disparate seabed surveys to spatially expand predicted benthos distributions. Location: Australia. Methods : We collate data from 18 seabed surveys to map the distribution of seabed invertebrates (benthos) in nine regions. Our approach combines data from multiple surveys, groups taxa within taxonomic classes and uses Random Forests to predict spatial abundance distributions of benthos groups from environmental variables. Exposure and protection of benthos groups were quantified by mapping their predicted abundance distributions against the footprint of trawling and legislated boundaries of marine reserves and fishery closures. Results: Trawling is currently prohibited from more area of Australia's EEZ (58%) than is trawled (<5%). Across 134 benthos groups, 96% had greater protection of abundance than exposure. The mean trawl exposure of benthos-group abundance was 7%, compared to mean protection of 38%, whereas the mean abundance neither trawled nor protected was 55%. Fishery closures covered 19% less study area than marine reserves, but overlapped with a higher proportion (5% more) of benthos-group abundance. Main Conclusions: This study provides the most extensive quantitative assessment of the current exposure of Australia's benthos to trawling. Further, it highlights the contribution of fishery closures to marine conservation. These results help identify regions and taxa that are at greatest potential risk from trawling and support managers to achieve balance between conservation and sustainable industries in marine ecosystems.

The rise of food security up international political, societal and academic agendas has led to increasing interest in novel means of improving primary food production and reducing waste. There are however, also many 'post-farm gate' activities that are critical to food security, including processing, packaging, distributing, retailing, cooking and consuming. These activities all affect a range of important food security elements, notably availability, affordability and other aspects of access, nutrition and safety. Addressing the challenge of universal food security, in the context of a number of other policy goals (e.g. social, economic and environmental sustainability), is of keen interest to a range of UK stakeholders but requires an up-to-date evidence base and continuous innovation. An exercise was therefore conducted, under the auspices of the UK Global Food Security Programme, to identify priority research questions with a focus on the UK food system (though the outcomes may be broadly applicable to other developed nations). Emphasis was placed on incorporating a wide range of perspectives ('world views') from different stakeholder groups: policy, private sector, non-governmental organisations, advocacy groups and academia. A total of 456 individuals submitted 820 questions from which 100 were selected by a process of online voting and a three-stage workshop voting exercise. These 100 final questions were sorted into 10 themes and the 'top' question for each theme identified by a further voting exercise. This step also allowed four different stakeholder groups to select the top 7-8 questions from their perspectives. Results of these voting exercises are presented. It is clear from the wide range of questions prioritised in this exercise that the different stakeholder groups identified specific research needs on a range of post-farm gate activities and food security outcomes. Evidence needs related to food affordability, nutrition and food safety (all key elements of food security) featured highly in the exercise. While there were some questions relating to climate impacts on production, other important topics for food security (e.g. trade, transport, preference and cultural needs) were not viewed as strongly by the participants.