Description: In 2007 the alien invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz 1865 was recorded for the first time in the Bornholm Basin, an area which serves as important spawning ground for Baltic fish stocks. Since M. leidyi is capable of preying upon early life stages of fish and further might act as food competitor for fish larvae, it is of major concern to investigate the potential threat that this non-indigenous species poses to the pelagic ecosystem of the Baltic Sea. The present study investigates the temporal and spatial overlap of M. leidyi with eggs and larvae of Baltic cod (Gadus morhua L.) and sprat (Sprattus sprattus L.) in order to assess the potential impact of this new invader on two of the most important Baltic fish stocks. Results show variable inter-seasonal distribution and overlap dynamics and thus different seasonal threat-scenarios for the early life stages of cod and sprat. The spatial overlap between M. leidyi and ichthyoplankton was low for most of the period observed, and we conclude that M. leidyi presently does not have a strong impact. However, we detected situations with high overlaps, e.g. for sprat larvae and cod eggs in spring. As the population dynamics of M. leidyi in the central Baltic are not yet fully understood, a future population explosion of the alien ctenophore with possible effects on fish recruitment cannot be ruled out. Furthermore, a possible shift in peak spawning of cod to the early season, when ctenophore abundances were relatively high, might increase the impact of M. leidyi on cod.

Description: Besides variable egg survival, previous studies suggested that the larval stage may be the most critical phase in determining Baltic cod recruitment variability, and that larvae need to conduct an ontogenetic vertical migration from hatching depths (〉50 m) to upper layers with increased food availability in order to initiate first feeding, improve their nutritional condition and growth, and avoid starvation. Recently, detailed information on the stage-resolved vertical distribution of main Baltic copepod species, including the preferred larval Baltic cod prey species Pseudocalanus acuspes, has become available. Therefore, the vertical distribution of Baltic cod larvae in August 2007 and their depth-dependent nutritional condition and growth were investigated. RNA–DNA based methods were used to estimate growth, including a novel approach to estimate growth performance by relating observed specific growth rates (SGR) of field caught larvae to temperature-dependent reference growth rates (Gref) for fast-growing laboratory reared fish from the literature. This standardization to Gref was found to have a great potential to improve investigations on the growth and ecology of larval fish. The need for early larvae to migrate to shallower layers was corroborated, while larger size classes were found at increasingly greater depths. This may reflect a continuation of the ontogenetic vertical migration in order to follow increasingly larger prey items at greater depths and to save energy in cooler waters below the thermocline. Larval growth generally declined with increasing depth, but the decline in growth became less pronounced in larger size classes. This indicates that larger larvae were better in coping with the ambient environment and the available prey field at greater depths. Generally, Baltic cod larvae grew poorly compared to larvae from other studies, which is discussed in relation to differences in predation and a possible food–temperature trade-off for larvae in the highly stratified Baltic Sea. Comparison with earlier results showed a higher frequency of starving larvae and lower frequencies of larger larvae after the first-feeding stage in 1994 and 1995. As this was a period of low Baltic cod recruitment despite favourable conditions for egg survival, it is concluded that larval starvation mortality has a high potential to contribute to recruitment variability in Baltic cod. Highlights ► We investigate the vertical distribution and depth-dependent growth of Baltic cod larvae. ► We apply a novel approach which relates observed growth rates to reference growth rates in order to obtain growth performance. ► Assessing growth performance was found to be a valuable tool in studies on the growth and ecology of larval fish. ► The need for an ontogenetic first-feeding migration was corroborated and growth generally declined with increasing depth. ► Baltic cod larvae were generally growing badly, suggesting starvation-induced recruitment regulation during the larval stage.

Description: At present, several cod stocks are outside safe biological limits and are managed under recovery plans. For these stocks Total Allowable Catches (TAC's) are generally low and quotas are accompanied by a broad variety of technical measures influencing the fishing patterns. Consequently, the input data to stock assessment models relying on catch statistics from the commercial fisheries is potentially biased and the perception of stock status may be incorrect. Egg production methods (EPM) provide a fishery independent alternative. Additionally, they provide better estimates of stock reproductive potential (SRP). Eastern Baltic cod (Gadus morhua callarias L.) has severely declined throughout the 2nd half of the 1980s and 1st half of the 1990s due to climate-driven adverse hydrographic conditions and high fishing intensity. Since 2007 the stock is managed under a long-term management plan and showed signs of recovery in most recent years. Since 1986, egg surveys have been carried out regularly in the Bornholm Basin, the most important spawning area of Eastern Baltic cod since mid-1980s. In the present paper the robustness of EPM towards simplification of spawning parameters and towards reduction of the number of egg surveys is tested applying three different methods requiring different numbers of egg surveys. We applied the annual egg production method (AEPM) requiring full egg survey coverage of the spawning season to estimate cod abundances in the Bornholm Basin. In addition, the daily fecundity reduction method (DFRM) and the daily egg production method (DEPM) were tested, the latter two methods requiring only single egg surveys, but require more complex reproduction input parameters. All three methods provided a comparable result, which was also expected as many spawning parameters were derived from the same underlying data sets. In a sensitivity analysis several input parameters were varied simultaneously up to 20% in both directions. EPM were especially sensitive towards changes in proportions of mature females at age, whereas changes in the various fecundity parameters and spawning fraction were less influential. EPM results followed the large scale spawning stock trends of the Baltic International Trawl Survey index, whereas the year to year variations of the index were not captured to well. EPM yielded spawning stock sizes in the same order of magnitude as provided by a spatially down-scaled multi-species stock assessment model.

Description: The eastern Baltic cod stock has recently started to recover, after two decades of severe depletion, however with unexpected side effects. The stock has not re-occupied its former wide distribution range, but remains concentrated in a limited area in the southern Baltic Sea. The biomass of forage fish, i.e., sprat and herring, is historic low in this area, which in combination with increasing cod stock results in locally high predation mortality of forage fish and cannibalism of cod. In line with low prey availability, body weight and nutritional condition of cod drastically declined. In the southern Baltic Sea, cod competes with pelagic fisheries for the limited resources of sprat and herring, while the largest biomass of these species is currently found outside the distribution range of cod. Accounting for spatial overlap between species is crucial in developing ecosystem based fisheries management to enhance the recovery of predator stocks.