An estimate of the total catch in the Spanish Mediterranean Sea and Gulf of Cadiz regions (1950-2010)

The underestimation of fisheries removals is a global issue that spans countries from different continents and different socio-economic situations. Underestimation of catches is especially important in countries where fishing fleets are highly diversified, the enforcement of fishing management is low, data availability is poor, and there is high demand for fish products in local markets. This is the case for Mediterranean countries. Here, we estimated total removals of marine resources by Spain from 1950 to 2010 for the Spanish Mediterranean Sea and Gulf of Cadiz regions following a catch-reconstruction approach. We first collected information from scientific publications, grey literature and secondary sources of information (i.e., personal communications, interviews with managers and fishers) to complement officially reported catch data, which are publicly available from FAO databases and from national and regional statistics. A literature search and fishers interviews provided assessments of missing catch sectors that are time-point estimates. These were used as anchor points of reliable data upon which we then estimated total catch using interpolation to fill in the periods for which quantitative data were missing. Overall, the reconstructed catch was 70% larger than the nationally reported data for the same time period. Results illustrated that unreported removals and discards represent important portions of total removals in the study area. Unreported landings and discards accounted for, on average, 42% of total removals between 1950s and 2010, and were composed of black market sales, subsistence fishing, artisanal fishing, recreational fishing and illegal catch, in addition to discarding. By the late 2000s, recreational fishing was the most important sector for unreported landings (~36%), followed by black market sales (~32%), subsistence fishing (~17%), unreported artisanal fishing (~12%) and illegal catch (~2%). While FAO landings data showed an increase of landings from 1950 to the mid-1960s and a decline from the mid-1970s to 2010, a different trend emerged after accounting for all fisheries removals. Reconstructed total catches revealed an earlier maximum of total removals in the late 1950s, a plateau being reached during the 1960s and 1970s, and a decline from the early 1980s to 2010. Our estimates of total fisheries catches represent an improvement over official catch data, and suggest a different historical trend of marine resource use

Knowing the past to improve the future: Estimating historical fishing catches to improve fisheries management in the Western Mediterranean Sea

We developed for the first time the commercial fishing catches reconstruction of the Balearic Islands (Western Mediterranean) between 1950 and 2010, by adding non-reported components, including unreported landings and discards, to the official reported landing data. To back‑estimate historical unreported landings and discards, collaboration and information acquired from fishermen were essential, as gathered through interviews and observer programs of the Spanish Oceanographic Institute (IEO) on board commercial bottom trawling fleet. We estimated a total catch of 511,500 t over the period 1950‑2010, of which official landings represented 49% (around 248,000 t), followed by unreported catches (32%) and discards (20%). A decrease in unreported catches was observed during the period 1950-2010 (from 58% to 38%) due to a reduction of unreported landings, but substantial efforts are still required to improve the recordings of actual fishing catches. This work contributes to the global assessment of fisheries removals led by the Sea Around Us and aims to provide the basis for an improved management of the Balearic Islands and Mediterranean Sea fisheries

An intercalibration study of the use of 4-Methyumbelliferyl-ß-D-glucuronide for the specific enumeration of Escherichia coli in seawater and marine sediments.

A fluorogenic assay for the specific detection of Escherichia coli on the basis of its β-glucuronidase activity (MUG method) was applied to seawater and marine sediments with different contamination levels. The study was carried out in three Mediterranean areas (Malaga-Spain, Nice-France and Palermo-Sicily), using strictly standardized methods (membrane filtration), media (mFC and Chapman-TTC agars) and reagents, to evaluate statistically its sensitivity and specificity according to the origin and contamination of samples, the workers performing the tests and the selected culture media. The results obtained indicate that the MUG method is highly specific (94.5%) and sensitive (90.8%) for the detection of E.coli in marine samples. Its reliability however closely depends on the macroscopic differentiation of colonies typical of the species on agar plates, and on the number of colonies on the filters. Of the 798 typical colonies with a positive MUG reaction, more than 95.5% were identified as E.coli, and the false-positive results mainly corresponded to Citrobacter freudii (1.75%) and Shigella spp. (1.63%). Only 0.56% of total isolates (14.9% of non-typical MUG negative isolates) were confirmed as E. coli from non- typical colonies on both selective media with a negative MUG reaction (false-negative). It was concluded that the MUG method, in conjunction with the membrane filtration technique using mFC agar is faster, easier and cheaper than the standard procedure for the examination of seawater and sediment sample

Mobilization of ectopic yolk in Gallus gallus domesticus: a novel reverse lipid transport process

Summary In many oviparous animals, bursting type atresia of ovarian follicles occurs during the reproductive cycle resulting in the escape of yolk into the extracellular compartment. In birds, this ectopic yolk is rapidly cleared by an unknown process that involves the appearance of yolk-engorged macrophage-like cells. To study this unique type of lipid transport, we injected young male chickens intra-abdominally with egg yolk. Absorption of egg yolk from the body cavity markedly increased the triacylglyceride-rich fraction (TRL) of plasma lipoproteins and was coincident with increased levels of plasma triacylglycerides (TAG) but not non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA). Thus, the transport of yolk lipids from the abdominal cavity appears to occur in lipoproteins and be more similar to the transport of hepatic TAG to the periphery via lipoproteins than to transport of adipose TAG to the periphery via NEFA released by the action of lipases. When macrophages were exposed to yolk in vitro, they quickly phagocytized yolk; however, it is unclear if this level of phagocytosis contributes significantly to total yolk clearance. Instead, the chicken macrophage may function more as a facilitator of yolk clearance through modification of yolk lipoproteins and the regulation of the local and systemic immune response to ectopic yolk. Yolk appears to be anti-inflammatory in nature. Yolk did not increase inflammatory cytokines IL-1, IL-6 and IFNγ either in vivo or in vitro; in fact, yolk dampened many inflammatory changes caused by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Conversely, LPS-induced inflammation retarded yolk clearance from the abdominal cavity and plasma TAG levels.</jats:p

Modified most-probable-number technique for the specific determination of Escherichia coli from environmental samples using a fluorogenic method

A specific and senstive modification of the most-probable-number (MPN) technique by addition of 4-methylumbelliferyl-β-D-glucuronide (MUG) to both presumptive and confirmatory media was performed. The use of this modification allows the precise determination of Escherichia coli from marine samples (seawater, sediment and shellfish) within 7 days compared to 10–12 days required by using of the standard methodology. No false-positive isolates for fluorescence reaction have been observed, although one E. coli strain fluorescent-positive on agar was isolated from nonfluorescent tubes. Klebsiella pneumoniae was the species most frequently detected from tubes with gas and fluorescence production and typical morphology on mFC agar, but failed on nutrient-MUG agar. Using a unifactorial variance analysis of the mean, fluorescence in tube and on agar has been determined as the factor which allows the detection of E. coli presence in the three sample types with high accuracy. The incorporation of MUG to the selective broth in the confirmatory test has been shown to avoid false-positive results due to shellfish tissue β-glucuronidase activity

Heterotypic mouse models of canine osteosarcoma recapitulate tumor heterogeneity and biological behavior

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a heterogeneous and rare disease with a disproportionate impact because it mainly affects children and adolescents. Lamentably, more than half of patients with OS succumb to metastatic disease. Clarification of the etiology of the disease, development of better strategies to manage progression, and methods to guide personalized treatments are among the unmet health needs for OS patients. Progress in managing the disease has been hindered by the extreme heterogeneity of OS; thus, better models that accurately recapitulate the natural heterogeneity of the disease are needed. For this study, we used cell lines derived from two spontaneous canine OS tumors with distinctly different biological behavior (OS-1 and OS-2) for heterotypic in vivo modeling that recapitulates the heterogeneous biology and behavior of this disease. Both cell lines demonstrated stability of the transcriptome when grown as orthotopic xenografts in athymic nude mice. Consistent with the behavior of the original tumors, OS-2 xenografts grew more rapidly at the primary site and had greater propensity to disseminate to lung and establish microscopic metastasis. Moreover, OS-2 promoted formation of a different tumor-associated stromal environment than OS-1 xenografts. OS-2-derived tumors comprised a larger percentage of the xenograft tumors than OS-1-derived tumors. In addition, a robust pro-inflammatory population dominated the stromal cell infiltrates in OS-2 xenografts, whereas a mesenchymal population with a gene signature reflecting myogenic signaling dominated those in the OS-1 xenografts. Our studies show that canine OS cell lines maintain intrinsic features of the tumors from which they were derived and recapitulate the heterogeneous biology and behavior of bone cancer in mouse models. This system provides a resource to understand essential interactions between tumor cells and the stromal environment that drive the progression and metastatic propensity of OS