The challenge attempts to collect bycatch data for the North Atlantic sea basin (i.e. north of the equator, excluding Caribe, Baltic, North Sea and Artic) and to compute: mass and number of discards by species and year, including fish, mammals, reptiles and seabirds. Data are presented in an Excel's spreadsheet.

Assess whether the MPA network constitutes a representative and coherent network as described in article 13 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive 3 products were specified to achieve the second objectif of the challenge: ATLANTIC_CH02_Product_2 / Quantitative analyse of MPA coherency The product comprises 4 components: Distribution of vulnerable marine habitats : Shape represent the distribution of different vulnérable habitats Distribution biologically or ecologically significant areas (EBSAs) Critical areas of vulnerable species Distribution of indicator species The method used computes the percentage coverage between : Vulnerable habitats like carbon sinks, reef, kelp... Ecologically or biologically significant area Life critical area (feeding , breeding, migratory routes, spawning, dispersal larvea, nursery…) for indicator species Distribution of indicator species in the study area and MPA network location.

We took inspiration from a “Matrix of marine activities” (appropriate for each IUCN management category) extracted from IUCN paper, to achieve the first objective by computing 1 product comprising the following 12 components: Product ATLANTIC_CH02_Product_1 / MPA Atlantic network classified in IUCN classification • Traditional fishing area • Sustainable fishing area (industrial) • Leisure fishing area • Leisure activity area (diving, surfing, tourist beaches) • Shipping area (shipping trajectory, aids navigation) • Scientific activity area • Renewable energy generation facility area (ocean energy facilities, wind farms) • Aquaculture area (finfish production, shellfish production) • Shipping infrastructure area (harbours, dredging area...) • Waste discharge area • Mining area (aggregate extraction, hydrocarbon extraction) • Habitation area (urban area) Each geographic information required for the components was compiled into a layer in grid format. These grids were intersected with the MPAs layer to assign each MPA a IUCN category according to the conditional matrix illustrated below : If the MPA area contains : Habitation area (urban area) The IUCN category is :V If the MPA area contains : Mining area (aggregate extraction, hydrocarbon extraction) The IUCN category is V If the MPA area contains : Waste discharge area The IUCN category is : V If the MPA area contains : Shipping infrastructure area (harbours, dredging area...) The IUCN category is IV If the MPA area contains : Aquaculture area (finfish production, shellfish production) The IUCN category is IV If the MPA area contains : Renewable energy generation facility area (ocean energy facilities, wind farms) The IUCN category is IV If the MPA area contains : Leisure fishing area The IUCN category is IV If the MPA area contains : Sustainable fishing area (industrial) The IUCN category is IV If the MPA area contains : Shipping area (shipping trajectory, aids navigation) The IUCN category is II If the MPA area contains : Leisure activity area (diving, surfing, tourist beaches) The IUCN category is Ib If the MPA area contains : Traditional fishing area The IUCN category is Ib If the MPA area contains : Scientific activity area The IUCN category is Ia

The impact of fishing on benthic habitats has previously been investigated however; a conclusive classification of potentially sensitive habitats per gear type does not exist. Currently only qualitative estimates of fishery impact using Broad-scale habitat maps are possible. Here a sensitivity matrix using both fishing pressure (fishing Intensity) and habitat sensitivity is employed to define habitat disturbance categories. The predominant fishing activities associated with physical abrasion of the seafloor area are from bottom contacting towed fishing gear. The swept area of the aforementioned gear in contact with the seabed is generally considered a function of gear width, vessel speed and fishing effort (ICES. 2015). The varying characteristics of fishing gear, their interaction with the sea floor and species being targeted; provide scope for differing interactions with subsurface (infaunal) and surface (epifaunal) dwelling communities. An evaluation of the abrasion pressure and habitat sensitivity split into surface and subsurface pressure allows greater insight to the ecological effects. Fishing intensity was calculated annually and based on the area of sea floor being swept (or swept area ratio SAR) by gear type. Calculations are based on SAR’s of gear types per area, per year. Fishing pressure ranks and habitat sensitivity ranks obtained from WGSFD working group (01 WGSFD - Report of the Working Group on Spatial Fisheries Data 2015) can be incorporated within a GIS environment to existing ICES fisheries data to provide habitat disturbance maps (fishing pressure maps+ habitat sensitivity maps) ICES. 2015. Report of the Working Group on Spatial Fisheries Data (WGSFD), 8–12 June 2015, ICES Headquarters, Copenhagen, Denmark. ICES CM 2015/SSGEPI:18. 150 pp.

Temporal series (annual mean values) and Long term Average (LTA) of water discharge for each river mouth where in situ data is available. Different sources can be mixed if any.

Maps of seasonal p90 (percentile 90) of Chla on the North Atlantic basin for the past ten years (2005-2014) using the Global Copernicus chla level 4 (L4) products (resolution of 4 km). Method as Gohin Francis, Saulquin Bertrand, Bryere Philippe (2010) Atlas de la Température, de la concentration en Chlorophylle et de la Turbidité de surface du plateau continental français et de ses abords de l’Ouest européen. Ifremer. http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00057/16840/

Identified areas across the north Atlantic which have been flagged as priority locations for quality bathymetry data, in the context of expanded shipping traffic and port expansions. The reference to determine the priority survey areas in combination with shiping routes and port locations are the bathymetric data sources used for product 2( GEBCO, EMODnet bathymetry, USGS and CHS) and the depth uncertainty derived of Product 2. The adequacy assessment of the input characteristics of Product 3 is limited to the shiping routes and port locations.

Temporal series (annual mean values) and long term average (LTA) of temperature for each river mouth.

Data from a number of different sources have been integrated to provide new perspectives on fishing activities. Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) record and transmit the position and speed of fishing vessels at intervals of two hours or less. Fishing time can be calculated from the VMS data and combining this parameter with vessel logbook data, maps of fishing effort and intensity at different spatial and temporal scales can be calculated. The statistical software package “R” is used to extract the required information then re-interrogated to produce maps of fishing effort or intensity per month and year. The use of Automatic Identification System (AIS) data was not considered as combining AIS data with fisheries logbook data would pose issues namely; the ability of the AIS system to be switched off, only mandatory on vessels > 15 meters in length, cost involved to purchase data, and confidentiality.

Pentadal (5-year average) resolution time-series of bottom temperature for North Atlantic ocean area deeper than 1000m. Calculate the 5 year average bottom temperature at each point on the grid and then calculate the area weighted average.