Report of the Working Group on Atlantic Fish Larvae and Eggs Surveys (WGALES)

The Working Group on Atlantic Fish Larvae and Egg Surveys (WGALES) met at DTUAqua in Copenhagen, Lyngby, 22–26 October 2016.The meeting was attended by 28 participants from 8 countries (representing 10 differ-ent institutes).The agenda included general WGALES business and three thematic sessions which were carried out in plenary. Session 1. “General presentations concerning egg and larvae surveys” addressed general aspects related to surveys and the main issues concerned with egg and larvae, sampling and analyses, Session 2. “Fish eggs and larval development and early life strategies in boreal and tropical regions.” covered aspects related to egg and larvae physiology, ecology and abundance and production estimation and Session 3. “Advances in adult reproductive parameters focusing on spawning frequency estimations”, focused on issues related to the adult fraction of the populations in particular with the development of a new approach for the estimation of the spawning fraction an im-portant parameter for SSB estimation using EPMs.During session one eleven presentations were delivered. The discussions considered diverse aspects related to surveys and sampling and debate on the opportunity/feasi-bility for using ichthyoplankton surveys to gather extra information on the pelagic eco-system in particular on the zooplankton communities for ecology and trophic structure studies but also to address the MSFD requirements. An update on the status of the ICES Database for eggs and larvae was also presented. Session two included six presen-tations. Studies were presented focusing on ichthyoplankton spatio-temporal variabil-ity and also on egg and larvae physiological aspects relevant to its condition and sur-vival. In session three, four presentations were provided. Research results on repro-ductive behaviour and fecundity estimations were reported. There was also a compre-hensive presentation on the collaborative work, developed within this WG and involv-ing several institutes, was delivered to show the progresses on the new methodological approach for improving spawning frequency estimation for different species.