Currently ICES publishes four open-access, peer-reviewed series.
Cooperative Research Reports (CRRs) are the most well-known series from the four in-house publications, covering a broad range of topics within marine sciences. Techniques in Marine Environmental Sciences (TIMES) are protocols and practical manuals, focusing on methodologies within marine environmental sciences. Our two ID Leaflets series are identification guides for plankton species in the ICES area (ID Plankton) and diseases and parasites of fish and shellfish (ID Diseases). The first ID Leaflet for Plankton was published again in 2019 after a hiatus of 18 years.
Cooperative Research Reports (CRRs)
In recent years, the focus of ecosystem monitoring has shifted from one specific topic to a wider ecosystem scope. Our CRR, Moving towards integrated ecosystem monitoring gives a comprehensive overview and guidance towards integrated ecosystem monitoring at sea. Furthermore, an analyses of multiple time-series is carried out annually (ICES Report on Ocean Climate) to give an overview on climatic conditions in the North Atlantic.
Additionally, our scientists produced a Handbook of fish age estimation protocols and validation methods, providing a summary of age estimation methods for all major commercial fish stocks in European waters. A review of the status and distribution of selected diadromous fish populations (e.g. eel, salmonids) in the North Atlantic and Baltic areas has also been produced. The CRR highlights that a large number of diadromous fish species are threatened and suffer from environmental degradation and human-induced habitat loss at present.
Techniques in Marine Environmental Sciences (TIMES)
The physiological status of organisms changes when they are exposed to contaminants in the environment. Our first TIMES of last year provides the necessary methodological information to assess contaminant exposure of mussels at the whole organism level by evaluating their stress on stress (SoS) biomarker or reduction of survival when exposed to air (Biological effects of contaminants: Stress on stress (SoS) response in mussels). This method is used as a general low-cost indicator of contaminant exposure in the environment.
Our second TIMES publication of 2019 provides guidelines for the assessment of metal contamination in sediments via relevant techniques (Guidelines for the use of diffusive gradients in thin films for measuring metal fluxes in sediment)
ID Leaflets for Diseases and Parasites in Fish and Shellfish
Piscirickettsiosis, caused by an infection with Piscirickettsia salmonis, is a disease mainly occurring in salmonid fish, however, non-salmonid fish can also be susceptible to the infection. Our ID Diseases Leaftlet provides information on identifying this condition in affected fish species. Likewise, the ID Leaflet on Tenacibaculum maritimum is dedicated to the identification of the disease that may cause (tenacibaculosis) in marine fish.
ID Leaflets for Plankton
The first leaflet from the revived series focuses on the genus Oithona, abundant cyclopoid copepods that are common in marine and brackish ecosystems worldwide. Readers are presented with the taxonomic and ecological characteristics of 14 Oithona species that are widely distributed in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea.
The importance and relevance of our publications
In 2019, ten different expert groups were involved in producing the various series. Our peer-reviewed series allow our groups to promote their work on particular subjects, advancing knowledge in their respective scientific field.
