Evidence of West Nile virus (WNV) circulation in wild birds and WNV RNA negativity in mosquitoes of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, Romania, 2016

West Nile virus (WNV) is a zoonotic flavivirus whose transmission cycle in nature includes wild birds as amplifying hosts and ornithophilic mosquito vectors. Bridge vectors can transmit WNV to mammal species potentially causing West Nile Fever. Wild bird migration is a mode of WNV introduction into new areas. The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (DDBR) is a major stopover of wild birds migrating between Europe and Africa. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of WNV in the DDBR during the 2016 transmission season in wild birds and mosquitoes. Blood from 68 wild birds (nine different species) trapped at four different locations was analyzed by competitive ELISA and Virus Neutralization Test (VNT), revealing positive results in 8/68 (11.8%) of the wild birds by ELISA of which six samples (three from juvenile birds) were confirmed seropositive by VNT. Mosquitoes (n = 6523, 5 genera) were trapped with CDC Mini Light traps at two locations and in one location resting mosquitoes were caught. The presence of WNV RNA was tested in 134 pools by reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). None of the pools was positive for WNV-specific RNA. Based on the obtained results, WNV was circulating in the DDBR during 2016

Species diversity, host preference and arbovirus detection of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in south-eastern Serbia

BackgroundCulicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) is a genus of small biting midges (also known as no-see ums) that currently includes 1368 described species. They are proven or suspected vectors for important pathogens affecting animals such as bluetongue virus (BTV) and Schmallenberg virus (SBV). Currently little information is available on the species of Culicoides present in Serbia. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine species diversity, host preference and the presence of BTV and SBV RNA in Culicoides from the Stara Planina Nature Park in south-eastern Serbia.ResultsIn total 19,887 individual Culicoides were collected during three nights of trapping at two farm sites and pooled into six groups (Obsoletus group, Pulicaris group, Others group and further each group according to the blood-feeding status to freshly engorged and non-engorged). Species identification was done on subsamples of 592 individual Culicoides specimens by morphological and molecular methods (MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and PCR/sequencing). At least 22 Culicoides species were detected. Four animal species (cow, sheep, goat and common blackbird) as well as humans were identified as hosts of Culicoides biting midges. The screening of 8291 Culicoides specimens in 99 pools for the presence of BTV and SBV RNA by reverse-transcription quantitative PCR were negative.ConclusionsThe biodiversity of Culicoides species in the natural reserve Stara Planina was high with at least 22 species present. The presence of C. imicola Kieffer was not recorded in this area. Culicoides showed opportunistic feeding behaviour as determined by host preference. The absence of SBV and BTV viral RNA correlates with the absence of clinical disease in the field during the time of sampling. These data are the direct outcome of a training programme within the Institutional Partnership Project AMSAR: Arbovirus monitoring, research and surveillance-capacity building on mosquitoes and biting midges funded by the programme SCOPES of the Swiss National Science Foundation

ICES Scientific Reports. 2:114. 237 pp.

Under regulation (EU) 2016/2336, the EU fleet will be banned from bottom fishing in all waters between 400 and 800m in depth, apart from within the existing fishing footprint. Within the fishing footprint, EU vessels will be prohibited from bottom fishing in any closed areas that might be introduced to protect VMEs. To meet these regulatory requirements, ICES was requested by the European Commission to provide “advice on the list of areas where VMEs are known to occur or are likely to occur and on the existing deep-sea fishing areas (ref. (EU)2016/2336)”. The ICES workshop WKEUVME was tasked to produce the technical evidence base for producing a set of regulatory area options, building on 2019 work (Technical Service and WKREG workshop), as well as previous ICES advice (ICES 2018a) and technical services (ICES 2018b). The work drew upon the most recent fishing activity and vulnerable marine ecosystem (VME) distribution data at ICES, which has been quality assured following the respective annual ICES data calls for VMS/logbook (link) and VMEs (link). The assessment procedure herein is fully documented, with the respective scripts to run the assessment available on an open source platform (WKEUVME GitHub site). Two “assessment sheets” with respective regulatory area options for two larger ecoregions (Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast, and the Celtic Seas) were produced. These assessment sheets served as the basis for dissemination documents for managers – stakeholders meeting of WKEUVME in September 2020, and could be incorporated into their respective annual ICES Ecosystem and Fisheries Overviews in future. There are also strong links to shallower water assessment procedures developed by WGFBIT (Working Group on Fisheries Benthic Impact and Trade-offs) that have been developed for the ICES Ecosystem Overview advice in the context of Descriptor 6 seafloor integrity of the EC’s marine strategy framework directive (MSFD). WKEUVME used a data-driven approach to provide management options for this request. Two broad scenarios were provided, each with two options. For each option a set of rules was defined for producing the outcomes. The first scenario defined VME closure polygons without any modification by known fishing activity. The first option under this scenario focused on VME habitats and areas with a High or Medium VME Index score (a multi-criteria assessment method developed by WGDEC). The second option included areas identified in option 1 and added in areas where four types of VME elements were present (areas where VMEs are likely to occur: seamounts, banks, coral mounds, and mud volcanoes); allowing managers to choose the level of precaution they wish to apply in protecting VMEs. The second scenario identified areas where the fishing footprint overlapped with VMEs and then used VME biomass/fishing intensity relationships to identify a threshold (swept-area ratio (SAR) < 0.43) for areas where effort was low and unlikely to have caused Significant Adverse Impacts to the VMEs (at C-square resolution). Two options for closing areas under this scenario were presented: the first where VME habitats and areas with a High or Medium VME Index score (irrespective of fishing effort) and only Low VME Index score with low fishing effort were closed; the other where all areas of VME presence (habitats and Low, Medium and High VME Index values) were closed, but only in areas of low fishing effort, on the basis that any VME habitat in heavily fished C-squares would be degraded