Atlas of Commercial Fisheries around Ireland, third edition

The Atlantic Ocean is the world’s second-largest ocean and covers 20% of the earth’s surface. The waters around Ireland constitute a small part of that vast ocean but they are very productive; they support a diverse range of international fishing activities and contain important marine habitats and ecosystems. This resource requires careful management to protect vulnerable components whilst ensuring sustainable exploitation. This “Atlas of Commercial Fisheries around Ireland” provides a series of detailed maps of fishing activity around Ireland with the aim of providing insights into fishing activities and fisheries resources. Fishing effort is mapped by gear and country. Irish landings of the key commercial species are mapped individually and by gear

Monitoring the recovery of exploited deep-water species

Commercial fisheries for deep-water species off the Irish coast developed in the late 1990s and declined in the early 2000s. Many of the exploited stocks were depleted a result of commercial exploitation and ICES has advised a zero catch for Orange Roughy since 2004, and for Portuguese Dogfish and Leafscale Gulper shark since 2005. Since 2016, the deep water access regulation has effectively banned trawling in waters deeper than 800 m (EC, 2016) and fishing for deep-water sharks with static netting >600 m is also banned by the technical measures regulation (EC, 2019). However, some of these species continue to be caught, either by gears not covered by this regulation or in water <800 m deep. The Marine Institute carried out a survey programme to assess the distribution and abundance of these species between 1992 and 1999 and again between 2006 and 2009. Since 2019, 3 days of the Irish Anglerfish and Megrim Survey have been allocated to monitoring the recovery of commercial deep-water species. This work was funded under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) from 2019 to 2021 and European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) since 2022. The main objective of the current project is to assess the recovery of exploited deep-water species in Irish waters by comparing the results from 2019 to 2022 surveys with those from the previous period in 2006 to 2009 (methods used in the earlier period 1992 to 1999 were different, therefore a direct comparison with that period is not possible).EMFF, EMFAF, the project is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Unio

Bacterial inactivation, photoreactivation and dark repair post flow-through pulsed UV disinfection

Pulsed UV (PUV) technology is accepted commercially for disinfection within the food packaging industry, but has yet to be deployed by the water/wastewater sector. This is partly due to a lack of robust, independently validated data for submerged or flow-through treatment applications. This study evaluated the efficacy of PUV for water disinfection under flow-through conditions. Bacterial pathogens of interest in the food and water/wastewater sector, namely Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria innocua (surrogate for L. monocytogenes) were used to investigate the potential for photoreactivation and/or dark repair post PUV flow-through disinfection. A continuous-flow low-pressure UV was also analysed under similar experimental conditions. Bacterial inactivation via flow-through PUV was dependant on energy output with E. coli exhibiting greatest sensitivity to PUV treatment (5.3 log 10 inactivation after treatment at 1539 mJ/cm 2 - output in UV range < 300 nm); L. innocua exhibited the highest PUV resistance (3.0 log 10 inactivation after treatment at 1539 mJ/cm 2 – output in UV range < 300 nm) under similar treatment conditions. Greater photoreactivation occurred at lower PUV outputs for both S. aureus and E. coli after flow-through PUV treatment. Thus exposure of treated bacteria to natural light, immediately post flow-through PUV treatment, should be avoided to minimise photoreactivation. The LPUV demonstrated inactivation of all bacteria below the limit of detection (1 CFU/mL) and inhibited the occurrence of photoreactivation. This study highlights the importance of considering bacterial repair potential and the need for further development of PUV technology for such applicationsThe authors would like to acknowledge the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine of Ireland (Ref: 13-F-507) for funding this research. Dr. Val del Rio was supported by the Spanish Government (CTM2014-55397-JIN project co-funded by FEDER) and Xunta de Galicia postdoctoral fellowshipS

CE20006

The 2020 Irish Anglerfish and Megrim Survey (IAMS) took place from 23rd February to 18th March (area 7bcjk) and 12-21st April 2020 (area 6a) on RV Celtic Explorer. The main objective of the survey is to obtain biomass and abundance indices for anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius and L. budegassa) and megrim (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis and L. boscii) in areas 6a (south of 58°N) and 7 (west of 8°W). Secondary objectives are to collect data on the distribution, relative abundance and biology of other commercially exploited species. For the second year, additional sampling took place in deep water (up to 1,500m) in order to monitor the recovery of exploited deep-water species following the decline of the deep-water fisheries in Irish waters. The IAMS survey is coordinated with the Scottish Anglerfish and Megrim Survey (SIAMISS) and uses the same gear and fishing practices

CE22004 and CE22007

The 2022 Irish Anglerfish and Megrim Survey (IAMS) took place from 5th February to 1st March (area 7bcjk) and 12-22nd April 2022 (area 6a) on RV Celtic Explorer. The main objective of the survey is to obtain biomass and abundance indices for anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius and L. budegassa) and megrim (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis and L. boscii) in areas 6a (south of 58°N) and 7 (west of 8°W). Secondary objectives are to collect data on the distribution, relative abundance and biology of other commercially exploited species. For the fourth year, additional sampling took place in deep water (up to 1,500m) in order to monitor the recovery of exploited deep-water species following the decline of the deep-water fisheries in Irish waters. The IAMS survey is coordinated with the Scottish Anglerfish and Megrim Survey (SIAMISS) and uses the same gear and fishing practices

CE23006

The 2023 Irish Anglerfish and Megrim Survey (IAMS) took place from 11th February to 7th March in ICES (International Council Exploration of the Sea) Divisions 7.b-c and 7.j-k, and 14th to 23rd April in ICES Division 6.a on-board the Research Vessel Celtic Explorer. The main objective of the survey was to obtain biomass and abundance indices for anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius and Lophius budegassa) and megrim (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis and Lepidorhombus boscii) in ICES Division 6.a (south of 58°N) and Subarea 7 (west of 8°W). Secondary objectives were to collect data on the distribution, relative abundance and biology of other commercially exploited species. For the fifth year, additional sampling took place in deep water (up to 1,500m) in order to monitor the recovery of exploited deep-water species following the decline of the deep-water fisheries in Irish waters since early 2000s (Kelly and Gerritsen, 2022). This work was funded under Marine Biodiversity Schemes of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) from 2019 to 2021 and European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) since 2022. The IAMS survey is coordinated with the Scottish Anglerfish and Megrim Survey (SIAMISS) as part of ICES International Bottom Trawl Survey Working Group (IBTSWG) and uses the same gear and fishing practices

DairyWater: striving for sustainability within the dairy processing industry in the Republic of Ireland

peer-reviewedThis Review describes the objectives and methodology of the DairyWater project as it aims to aid the Irish dairy processing industry in achieving sustainability as it expands. With the abolition of European milk quotas in March 2015, the Republic of Ireland saw a surge in milk production. The DairyWater project was established in anticipation of this expansion of the Irish dairy sector in order to develop innovative solutions for the efficient management of water consumption, wastewater treatment and the resulting energy use within the country's dairy processing industry. Therefore, the project can be divided into three main thematic areas: dairy wastewater treatment technologies and microbial analysis, water re-use and rainwater harvesting and environmental assessment. In order to ensure the project remains as relevant as possible to the industry, a project advisory board containing key industry stakeholders has been established. To date, a number of large scale studies, using data obtained directly from the Irish dairy industry, have been performed. Additionally, pilot-scale wastewater treatment (intermittently aerated sequencing batch reactor) and tertiary treatment (flow-through pulsed ultraviolet system) technologies have been demonstrated within the project. Further details on selected aspects of the project are discussed in greater detail in the subsequent cluster of research communications

Monogenic conditions and central nervous system anomalies:A prospective study, systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: Determine the incremental diagnostic yield of prenatal exome sequencing (pES) over chromosome microarray (CMA) or G-banding karyotype in fetuses with central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities.Methods: Data were collected via electronic searches from January 2010 to April 2022 in MEDLINE, Cochrane, Web of Science and EMBASE. The NHS England prenatal exome cohort was also included. Incremental yield was calculated as a pooled value using a random-effects model. Results: Thirty studies were included (n = 1583 cases). The incremental yield with pES for any CNS anomaly was 32% [95%CI 27%–36%; I2 = 72%]. Subgroup analysis revealed apparent incremental yields in; (a) isolated CNS anomalies; 27% [95%CI 19%–34%; I2 = 74%]; (b) single CNS anomaly; 16% [95% CI 10%–23%; I2 = 41%]; (c) more than one CNS anomaly; 31% [95% Cl 21%–40%; I2 = 56%]; and (d) the anatomical subtype with the most optimal yield was Type 1 malformation of cortical development, related to abnormal cell proliferation or apoptosis, incorporating microcephalies, megalencephalies and dysplasia; 40% (22%–57%; I2 = 68%). The commonest syndromes in isolated cases were Lissencephaly 3 and X-linked hydrocephalus. Conclusions: Prenatal exome sequencing provides a high incremental diagnostic yield in fetuses with CNS abnormalities with optimal yields in cases with multiple CNS anomalies, particularly those affecting the midline, posterior fossa and cortex.</p

International Bottom Trawl Survey Working Group (IBTSWG). ICES Scientific Reports, 04:65

The International Bottom Trawl Survey Working Group (IBTSWG) coordinates fishery-independent bottom trawl surveys in the ICES area in the Northeast Atlantic and the North Sea. These long-term monitoring surveys provide data for stock assessments and facilitate examina-tion of changes in fish distribution and relative abundance. The group also promotes the stand-ardization of fishing gears and methods as well as survey coordination. This report summarizes the national contributions in 2021–2022 and plans for the 2022–2023 surveys coordinated by IBTSWG