Mobilisation of data to stakeholder communities. Bridging the research-practice gap using a commercial shellfish species model

Abstract

Knowledge mobilisation is required to "bridge the gap" between research, policy and practice. This activity is dependent on the amount, richness and quality of the data published. To understand the impact of a changing climate on commercial species, stakeholder communities require better knowledge of their past and current situations. The common cockle (Cerastoderma edule) is an excellent model species for this type of analysis, as it is well-studied due to its cultural, commercial and ecological significance in west Europe. Recently, C. edule harvests have decreased, coinciding with frequent mass mortalities, due to factors such as a changing climate and diseases. In this study, macro and micro level marine historical ecology techniques were used to create datasets on topics including: cockle abundance, spawning duration and harvest levels, as well as the ecological factors impacting those cockle populations. These data were correlated with changing climate and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) index to assess if they are drivers of cockle abundance and harvesting. The analyses identified the key stakeholder communities involved in cockle research and data acquisition. It highlighted that data collection was sporadic and lacking in cross-national/stakeholder community coordination. A major finding was that local variability in cockle populations is influenced by biotic (parasites) and abiotic (temperature, legislation and harvesting) factors, and at a global scale by climate (AMO Index). This comprehensive study provided an insight into the European cockle fishery but also highlights the need to identify the type of data required, the importance of standardised monitoring, and dissemination efforts, taking into account the knowledge, source, and audience. These factors are key elements that will be highly beneficial not only to the cockle stakeholder communities but to other commercial species.

Biotic and abiotic factors shaping the genome of cockle (Cerastoderma edule) in the Northeast Atlantic: a baseline for sustainable management of its wild resources

“…4 and 5), but more data on the spawning period are needed to confirm the role of ocean currents on the observed genetic subdivision (see e.g. Mahony et al, 2020). In fact, strong connectivities were detected during the other simulated months.…”

“…This scenario was then repeated each day for the first 16 days in April to capture the variability in larval dispersal due to the tides. The procedure was then repeated for the first 16 days of months May to September, corresponding to the spawning phase of C. edule (Malham et al, 2012;Mahony et al, 2020), and then repeated for the years 2017 and 2018 to capture interannual variability from 2016 to 2018, due to changes in the formations, positions and strengths of the coastal and frontal currents. Therefore, a total of 17,625,600 'larvae' particles were tracked for the experiment (400 particles × 51 sites × 3 depth levels × 16 release days × 6 months × 3 years).…”

“…Moreover, the species is highly appreciated for cuisine, and its main fisheries are located in Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Portugal, where its commercialisation represents employment of thousands of collectors, processors and sellers (http://www.cocklesproject.eu/). C. edule is dioecious and can live up to ten years with a fast sexual maturation (reached in its first year) and high fecundity (Honkoop & van der Meer, 1998), with reproductive periods spanning from late spring to mid-autumn (Malham et al, 2012;Mahony et al, 2020). Larvae are planktonic and remain in the water column for around 30 days, which allows for passive larval dispersal by ocean currents that drive connectivity and gene flow between populations spread along the Northeast Atlantic coast (de Montaudouin, et al, 2003;Dare et al, 2004).…”

Genomic survey of edible cockle (Cerastoderma edule) in the Northeast Atlantic: A baseline for sustainable management of its wild resources

“…Moreover, the species is highly appreciated for cuisine, and its main fisheries are located in Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Portugal, where its commercialization drives employment of thousands of collectors, processors and sellers ( http://www.cockles‐project.eu/ ). Cerastoderma edule is dioecious and can live up to 10 years in the wild with a fast sexual maturation (reached in its first year) and high fecundity (Honkoop & van der Meer, 1998 ), with its reproductive period spanning from late spring to mid‐autumn (Mahony et al, 2020 ; Malham et al, 2012 ). Larvae are planktonic and remain in the water column for around 30 days, which allows for larval dispersal by ocean currents that drive connectivity and gene flow between populations along the Northeast Atlantic coast (Dare et al, 2004 ; de Montaudouin et al, 2003 ).…”

Co-occurrence of pathogen assemblages in a keystone species the common cockle Cerastoderma edule on the Irish coast

“…Generalist host species, such as the common cockle Cerastoderma edule, with wide spatial distributions, are exposed to a large range of environmental conditions, and a greater diversity of parasites and pathogens, and consequently are more likely to be coinfected (Vaumourin et al, 2015;Mahony et al, 2020;de Montaudouin et al, 2021), directly affecting individual cockle health and cockle population dynamics (Longshaw and Malham, 2013). Cockles may be host to multiple macro-parasite infections, particularly trematodes (de Montaudouin et al, 2010(de Montaudouin et al, , 2021, but may also be infected by a range of pathogens (Rowley et al, 2014;de Montaudouin et al, 2021), providing a microcosm for the parasite/pathogen community.…”