The life cycle of the European eel ( Anguilla anguilla ) is inherently risky because it relies on the successful migration of larvae and adults across thousands of kilometres of the Atlantic Ocean. In between these migrations, eels need to grow and develop to maximise their potential for successful reproduction. Eels have a number of life‐history characteristics at each life stage that minimise mortality, starvation and predat...

The European eel ( Anguilla anguilla L.) has a catadromous life cycle, with a single panmictic population that colonises continental Europe and northern Africa yet migrates 5000 to 9000 km to spawn in the Atlantic Ocean. It is unknown how this continental migration is organised so individual eels arrive in time for spawning with conspecifics. This meta‐analysis combined tracking data from 18 water bodies in freshwater and tran...

European eel is thought to be a symbol of the effects of global change on aquatic biodiversity. The species has persisted for millions of years and faced drastic environmental fluctuations thanks to its phenotypic plasticity. However, the species has recently declined to historically low levels under synergistic human pressures. Sublethal chemical contamination has been shown to alter reproductive capacity, but the impacts and...

Anguillid eels are found globally in fresh, transitional and saline waters and have played an important role in human life for centuries. The population status of several species is now of significant concern. The threats to populations include direct exploitation at different life stages, blockages to migratory routes by dams and other structures, changes in river basin management that impact habitat carrying capacity and sui...

The yellowfin tuna ( Thunnus albacares: YFT) is a widely distributed, migratory species that supports valuable commercial fisheries. Landings of YFT are seasonally and spatially variable, reflecting changes in their availability and accessibility to different fleets and metiers which, in turn, has implications for sustainable management. Understanding the dynamics of YFT behaviour and how it is affected by biological and ecolo...

Genetic divergence among populations arises through natural selection or drift and is counteracted by connectivity and gene flow. In sympatric populations, isolating mechanisms are thus needed to limit the homogenizing effects of gene flow to allow for adaptation and speciation. Chromosomal inversions act as an important mechanism maintaining isolating barriers, yet their role in sympatric populations and divergence with gene...

This study was undertaken to address the increasing need for a strategic approach to industry–science data collections in the face of reducing resources and growing need for evidence in fisheries management. The aim was to evaluate progress in the development of plans and procedures that can be employed to collect, record and use fishing industry knowledge and data in the evidence base for managing fisheries. This was achieved...

Aim Studies focussing on long‐term changes in squid populations are rare due to limited availability of fisheries‐independent data. However, squid play an important role as predator and prey in marine food‐webs and have also become an increasingly important target for fisheries. Their short life history is thought to make them particularly sensitive to changes in the environment, potentially leading to strong fluctuations in p...

Globally, spatial distributions of fish stocks are shifting but although the role of climate change in range shifts is increasingly appreciated, little remains known of the likely additional impact that high levels of fishing pressure might have on distribution. For North Sea cod, we show for the first time and in great spatial detail how the stock has shifted its distribution over the past 100 years. We digitized extensive hi...

The use of pop‐up archival satellite tags (PSATs) to geolocate marine fishes in polar regions is challenging due to the brevity of periods during which there is a defined sunrise and sunset. Models using other environmental parameters are thus required to supplement geolocation data in the estimation of marine migratory routes. The objective of this work was to create a simple method that would estimate the migratory pathways...