The New England Region

This chapter describes the New England region and the major issues facing this marine fisheries ecosystem, and presents some summary statistics related to the 90 indicators of ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) criteria. New England contains the second-lowest number of managed taxa among U.S. marine ecosystems, including historically important groundfish species such as Atlantic cod, haddock, Atlantic halibut, commercially valuable Atlantic sea scallop and American lobster, and federally protected Atlantic salmon. The New England social-ecological system is an environment that is responding to the consequences of overfishing, habitat loss, coastal development, and nutrient loading. Overall, EBFM progress has been made at the regional and subregional levels in implementing ecosystem-level planning, advancing knowledge of ecosystem principles, and examining system trade-offs. While much information has been obtained and applied regarding ecosystem-level calculations, syntheses, and models, only partial progress has been observed in using these system-wide emergent properties in management actions. Despite many of these large-scale efforts toward greater scientific understanding of the New England ecosystem, challenges remain toward effectively implementing formalized EBFM management actions and enacting ecosystem-level control rules. Namely, this region currently lacks a completed fishery ecosystem plan (FEP), and only partial progress has occurred toward considering system catch limits for this region. This ecosystem is excelling in the socioeconomic status of its LMRs, and is relatively productive, as related to the determinants of successful LMR management.

ANALYZING BIOCHEMICAL STATUS OF CULTIVATED HYDROBIONTS FOR EVALUATION OF MARICULTURE SUSTAINABILITY

The article touches upon the problem of sustainable development of the sea hydrobionts. Deep-sea scallop Mizuhopecten yessoensis is one of the most common breeding species in Primorsky Kray usually grown by two methods: cage and bottom. The cage (industrial) cul-tivation type is the most developed, but requires close attention. Improper planning of the mariculture development can affect the scallop survival, which in turn will lead to significant financial losses. Nowadays mariculture farms in different countries register the mass mortality of the cultivated aquatic organisms, the causes of this phenomenon being not clear, and often their identification requires a lot of time, as well as financial expenses. The use of prognostic mechanisms based on biomarkers can help identify the hidden threats in the body of cultivated scallops that lead to the mass mortality. The assessment of the state of mollusks at earlier stages of development will allow predicting and preventing significant losses of commercially valuable species. There have been analyzed the biomarker and scallop mortality rates of the scallop Mizuhopecten yessoensis cultivated by the cage method. Different groups of mollusks from 2 generations with the age difference of 10 years have been evaluated. In the course of the study it was found that with the increasing number of DNA defects and active accumulation of malondialdehyde in tissues the mortality of mollusks increases. It was stated that in scallops aged 1+ generations of 2015 there were registered the great number of DNA molecule defects and the high level of malondialdehyde concentration in the digestive gland and in the gills, which subsequently led to the mortality of almost all commercially valuable species aged 3+.

The Black Sea Flexopecten species-complex (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Pectinidae): Shell morphology and 16S rDNA variation

The taxonomic status and population variability of a Black Sea scallop (Flexopecten: Mollusca, Pectinidae) was evaluated in a DNA barcoding study using the 16S ribosomal DNA gene (=16S rDNA), in conjunction with seven morphological features of the shell. We conclude that the Black Sea form represents an eastern extension of the Mediterranean scallop F. glaber (Linnaeus, 1758). It is characterized by a significant lack of genetic variability when compared to the Mediterranean form, although it does contain new haplotypes not found in that species. There is also an increase in the mismatch in the distribution of nucleotides for the Black Sea form when compared with pooled samples of Mediterranean scallop. Plausible reasons for the observed phenomena are hypothesized from the standpoint of the epigenetic theory of evolution and the time since the scallop penetrated into the Black Sea. The lack of genetic variability is potentially due to founder effect and genetic drift.