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The Arctic marine ecosystem is changing fast due to climate change, emphasizing the need for solid ecological baselines and monitoring. The polar cod Boreogadus saida functions as a key species in the Arctic marine food web. We investigated the stomach contents of polar cod from the northern Barents Sea using DNA metabarcoding with the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I gene in parallel with classical visual analysis. Arctic amphipods and krill dominated the diet in both methods. Yet, metabarcoding allowed for the identification of digested and unidentifiable prey and provided higher taxonomic resolution, revealing new and undiscovered prey items of polar cod in the area. Furthermore, molecular results suggest a higher importance of barnacles and fish (presumably eggs and pelagic larvae) in the diet than previously recorded. Parasites and, in 6 cases, other prey items were only visually identified, demonstrating the complementary nature of both approaches. The presence of temperate and boreal prey species such as northern krill and (early life stages of) European flounder and European plaice illustrates the advection of boreal taxa into the polar region or may be indicative of ongoing borealisation in the Barents Sea. We show that a combination of visual analysis and metabarcoding provides complementary and semi-quantitative dietary information and integrative insights to monitor changing marine food webs. Research was funded by Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) through a fellowship for strategic basic research (FWO-SB, grant no. 1S04418N) and by a Brilliant Marine Research Idea Philanthropy Award 2019 granted by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium, to S.M.M. and was carried out with infrastructure support from European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC) Belgium-FWO project I001621N. H.C. was supported by a fellowship from the former Flemish Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology, now Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO, grant no. 141328). Fieldwork was supported by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), under expedition grant no. AWI_PS106/1_2-00 and the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) under its Statutory Research Task Nature & Environment WOT-04-009-047.04. We thank Captain Thomas Wunderlich and the crew of RV 'Polarstern' expedition PS106/2 for their support. We are very grateful to everyone who collected samples, that is Nils Koschnick, Jennifer Steffen, Erik Sulanke, Kim Vane and Susanne Fuchs with the assistance of Elisa Bravo Rebolledo, Giulia Castellani and Julia Ehrlich. We sincerely thank Birte Matthiessen, Paul E. Renaud and 2 anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that helped improve the paper. Polar cod were sampled and processed according to and within the laws, guidelines and policies of the German Animal Welfare Organisation; no specific permissions were required. The fish collected are neither endangered nor protected in the coastal waters of the Svalbard Archipelago. Polar cod were sacrificed immediately after sampling. Refereed 14.a Reports with methodological relevance

FAO 14.4.1 Fish abundance and distribution Mature Multi-organisational International Species abundances Guidelines & Policies Method Training/Educational material

A new global ocean temperature and salinity climatology is proposed for two time periods: a long time mean using multiple sensor data for the 1900–2017 period and a shorter time mean using only profiling float data for the 2003–2017 period. We use the historical database of World Ocean Database 2018. The estimation approach is novel as an additional quality control procedure is implemented, along with a new mapping algorithm based on Data Interpolating Variational Analysis. The new procedure, in addition to the traditional quality control approach, resulted in low sensitivity in terms of the first guess field choice. The roughness index and the root mean square of residuals are new indices applied to the selection of the free mapping parameters along with sensitivity experiments. Overall, the new estimates were consistent with previous climatologies, but several differences were found. The cause of these discrepancies is difficult to identify due to several differences in the procedures. To minimise these uncertainties, a multi-model ensemble mean is proposed as the least uncertain estimate of the global ocean temperature and salinity climatology Refereed 14.a N/A Novel (no adoption outside originators) Method Specification of criteria

Distinguishing neutral and adaptive genetic variation is one of the main challenges in investigating processes shaping population structure in the wild, and landscape genomics can help identify signatures of adaptation to contrasting environments. Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) is an anadromous salmonid and the most harvested fish species by Inuit people, including in Nunavik (Quebec, Canada), one of the most recently deglaciated regions in the world. Unlike many other anadromous salmonids, Arctic Char occupy coastal habitats near their natal rivers during their short marine phase restricted to the summer ice-free period. Our main objective was to document putatively neutral and adaptive genomic variation in anadromous Arctic Char populations from Nunavik and bordering regions to inform local fisheries management. We used genotyping by sequencing (GBS) to genotype 18,112 filtered single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in 650 individuals from 23 sampling locations along >2000 km of coastline. Our results reveal a hierarchical genetic structure, whereby neighboring hydrographic systems harbor distinct populations grouped by major oceanographic basins: Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Ungava Bay, and Labrador Sea. We found genetic diversity and differentiation to be consistent both with the expected postglacial recolonization history and with patterns of isolation-by-distance reflecting contemporary gene flow. Results from three gene-environment association methods supported the hypothesis of local adaptation to both freshwater and marine environments (strongest associations with sea surface and air temperatures during summer and salinity). Our results support a fisheries management strategy at a regional scale, and other implications for hatchery projects and adaptation to climate change are discussed. Refereed 14.4.1 Reports with methodological relevance

DIVAnd (Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis, in n-dimensions) is a tool to interpolate observations on a regular grid using the variational inverse method. We have extended DIVAnd to include additional dynamic constraints relevant to surface currents, including imposing a zero normal velocity at the coastline, imposing a low horizontal divergence of the surface currents, temporal coherence and simplified dynamics based on the Coriolis force and the possibility of including a surface pressure gradient. The impact of these constraints is evaluated by cross-validation using the HF (High-Frequency) radar surface current observations in the Ibiza Channel from the Balearic Islands Coastal Ocean Observing and Forecasting System (SOCIB). A small fraction of the radial current observations are set aside to validate the velocity reconstruction. The remaining radial currents from the two radar sites are combined to derive total surface currents using DIVAnd and then compared to the cross-validation data set and to drifter observations. The benefit of the dynamic constraints is shown relative to a variational interpolation without these dynamical constraints. The best results were obtained using the Coriolis force and the surface pressure gradient as a constraint which are able to improve the reconstruction from the Open-boundary Modal Analysis, a quite commonly used method to interpolate HF radar observations, once multiple time instances are considered together. SeaDataCloud project; JERICO-S3 project

It is preferable that methods for monitoring fish behavior, diversity, and abundance be noninvasive to avoid potential bias. Optical imaging facilitates the noninvasive monitoring of underwater environments and is best conducted without the use of artificial lighting. Here, we describe a custom-designed optical imaging system that utilizes a consumer-grade camera to capture images in situ in ambient light. This diver-deployed system can be used to collect time series of occurrences of animals while concurrently obtaining behavioral observations for two weeks to a month (depending on the sampling rate). It has also been configured to be paired with a passive acoustic system to record time-synchronized image and acoustic data. The system was deployed in a protected kelp forest off southern California and captured >1,500 high-quality images per day over 14 days. The images revealed numerous fish species exhibiting biologically important behaviors as well as daily patterns of presence/absence. The optical imaging system is a cost-effective tool that can be easily fabricated and improves upon many of the limitations of previous systems, including deployment length and image quality in low-light and limited-visibility conditions. The system provides a relatively noninvasive way to monitor shallow marine habitats, including protected areas, and can augment traditional survey methods by providing nearly continuous observations and thus yield increased statistical power. Refereed 14.a Fish abundance and distribution Pilot or Demonstrated Optical imaging system Method Specification of criteria

An overview of the current European capacity in terms of operational modeling of marine and coastal systems is presented. This overview is compiled from a survey conducted in 2018–2019 among members of EuroGOOS and its related network of Regional Operational Oceanographic Systems, addressing the purposes, context and technical specificities of operational modeling systems. Contributions to the survey were received from 49 organizations around Europe, which represent 104 operational model systems simulating mostly hydrodynamics, biogeochemistry and sea waves. The analysis of contributions highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the current capacity from an operational point of view, and leads to the formulation of recommendations toward the improvement of marine operational modeling services in Europe. In particular, this study highlights the heterogeneity of the European operational modeling capacity in terms of atmospheric and land boundary conditions, its limited deployment for biogeochemical phenomena, and a restricted use of data assimilation methods. In order to improve the accuracy of their simulations, model operators aim toward a further refinement of spatial resolution, and identify the quality and accessibility of forcing data and the suitability of observations for data assimilation as restricting factors. The described issues call for institutional integration efforts and promotion of good practices to homogenize operational marine model implementations, and to ensure that external forcing datasets, observation networks and process formulations and parameterizations are adequately developed to enable the deployment of high-level operational marine and coastal modeling services across Europe. Refereed 14.A Best Practice

Fish biomass estimation is one of the most common and important practices in aquaculture. The regular acquisition of fish biomass information has been identified as an urgent need for managers to optimize daily feeding, control stocking densities and ultimately determine the optimal time for harvesting. However, it is difficult to estimate fish biomass without human intervention because fishes are sensitive and move freely in an environment where visibility, lighting and stability are uncontrollable. Until now, fish biomass estimation has been mostly based on manual sampling, which is usually invasive, time-consuming and laborious. Therefore, it is imperative and highly desirable to develop a noninvasive, rapid and cost-effective means. Machine vision, acoustics, environmental DNA and resistivity counter provide the possibility of developing nonintrusive, faster and cheaper methods for in situ estimation of fish biomass. This article summarizes the development of these nonintrusive methods for fish biomass estimation over the past three decades and presents their basic concepts and principles. The strengths and weaknesses of each method are analysed and future research directions are also presented. Studies show that the applications of information technology such as advanced sensors and communication technologies have great significance to accelerate the development of new means and techniques for more effective biomass estimation. However, the accuracy and intelligence still need to be improved to meet intensive aquaculture requirements. Through close cooperation between fisheries experts and engineers, the precision and the level of intelligence for fish biomass estimation will be further improved based on the above methods. Refereed 14.a Fish abundance and distribution Method Reports with methodological relevance

Glider vehicles are now perhaps some of the most prolific providers of real-time and near-real-time operational oceanographic data. However, the data from these vehicles can and should be considered to have a long-term legacy value capable of playing a critical role in understanding and separating inter-annual, inter-decadal, and longterm global change. To achieve this, we have to go further than simply assuming the manufacturer’s calibrations, and field correct glider data in a more traditional way, for example, by careful comparison to water bottle calibrated lowered CTD datasets and/or “gold” standard recent climatologies. In this manuscript, we bring into the 21st century a historical technique that has been used manually by oceanographers for many years/decades for field correction/inter-calibration, thermal lag correction, and adjustment for biological fouling. The technique has now been made semi-automatic for machine processing of oceanographic glider data, although its future and indeed its origins have far wider scope. The subject of this manuscript is drawn from the original Description of Work (DoW) for a key task in the recently completed JERICO-NEXT (Joint European Research Infrastructure network for Coastal Observatories) EU-funded program, but goes on to consider future application and the suitability for integration with machine learning. Refereed 14.A Sea surface salinity Subsurface salinity TRL 8 Actual system completed and "mission qualified" through test and demonstration in an operational environment (ground or space) Manual (incl. handbook, guide, cookbook etc) Standard Operating Procedure 2019-12-03

This GO-SHIP manual is a rewrite of the original version by Hydes et al. (2010), and reviews basic sample collection and storage, aspects of CFA using an Auto-Analyzer, and specific nutrient methods in use by many laboratories doing repeat hydrography. The document also covers laboratory best practices including quality control and quality assurance (QC/QA) procedures to obtain the best results, and suggests protocols for the use of reference materials (RM) and certified reference materials (CRMs). Published This is a rewrite of : Hydes, D. J.; Aoyama, M.; Aminot, A.; Bakker, K.; Becker,S.; Coverly, S.; Daniel, A.; Dickson, A. G.; Grosso, O.; Kerouel, R.; van Ooijen, J.; Sato, K.; Tanhua, T.; Woodward, E. M. S. and Zhang, J. Z. (2010) Determination of Dissolved Nutrients (N, P, SI) in Seawater With High Precision and Inter-Comparability Using Gas-Segmented Continuous Flow Analysers. In: The GO-SHIP Repeat Hydrography Manual: A Collection of Expert Reports and Guidelines. Version 1. (eds Hood, E.M., C.L. Sabine, and B.M. Sloyan). IOCCP Report Number 14, ICPO Publication Series Number 134. Available online at: http://www.go-ship.org/HydroMan.html. Refereed Current 14.A Nutrients Mature: Methodologies are well demonstrated for a given objective, documented and peer reviewed; methods are commonly used by more than one organization (TRL 7-9) Best Practice Standard Operating Procedure