Market globalization and recurring food safety alerts have resulted in a growing consumer awareness of the need for food traceability. This is particularly relevant for seafood due to its perishable nature and importance as a key protein source for the population of the world. Here, we provide an overview of the current needs for seafood origin traceability, along with the limitations and challenges for its implementation. We focus on geochemical, biochemical, and molecular tools and how they should be optimized to be implemented globally and to address our societal needs. We suggest that seafood traceability is key to enforcing food safety regulations and fisheries control, combat fraud, and fulfill present and future expectations of conscientious producers, consumers, and authorities.

Market globalization and recurring food safety alerts have resulted in a growing consumer awareness of the need for food traceability. This is particularly relevant for seafood due to its perishable nature and importance as a key protein source for the population of the world. Here, we provide an overview of the current needs for seafood origin traceability, along with the limitations and challenges for its implementation. We focus on geochemical, biochemical, and molecular tools and how they should be optimized to be implemented globally and to address our societal needs. We suggest that seafood traceability is key to enforcing food safety regulations and fisheries control, combat fraud, and fulfill present and future expectations of conscientious producers, consumers, and authorities. | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have attracted a growing interest in the development and fabrication of sensors and biosensors for several applications. MNPs can be integrated into the transducer materials and/or be dispersed in the sample followed by their attraction by an external magnetic field onto the active detection surface of the (bio)sensor. This review describes and discusses the recent applications of MNPs in sensors and biosensors, taking into consideration their analytical figures of merit. This work also addresses the future trends and perspectives of sensors and biosensors based on MNPs.

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have attracted a growing interest in the development and fabrication of sensors and biosensors for several applications. MNPs can be integrated into the transducer materials and/or be dispersed in the sample followed by their attraction by an external magnetic field onto the active detection surface of the (bio)sensor. This review describes and discusses the recent applications of MNPs in sensors and biosensors, taking into consideration their analytical figures of merit. This work also addresses the future trends and perspectives of sensors and biosensors based on MNPs.

The mining sector is growing in parallel with societal demands for minerals. One of the most important environmental issues and economic burdens of industrial mining on land is the safe storage of the vast amounts of waste produced. Traditionally, tailings have been stored in land dams, but the lack of land availability, potential risk of dam failure and topography in coastal areas in certain countries results in increasing disposal of tailings into marine systems. This review describes the different submarine tailing disposal methods used in the world in general and in Norway in particular, their impact on the environment (e.g. hyper-sedimentation, toxicity, processes related to changes in grain shape and size, turbidity), current legislation and need for future research. Understanding these impacts on the habitat and biota is essential to assess potential ecosystem changes and to develop best available techniques and robust management plans.

The mining sector is growing in parallel with societal demands for minerals. One of the most important environmental issues and economic burdens of industrial mining on land is the safe storage of the vast amounts of waste produced. Traditionally, tailings have been stored in land dams, but the lack of land availability, potential risk of dam failure and topography in coastal areas in certain countries results in increasing disposal of tailings into marine systems. This review describes the different submarine tailing disposal methods used in the world in general and in Norway in particular, their impact on the environment (e.g. hyper-sedimentation, toxicity, processes related to changes in grain shape and size, turbidity), current legislation and need for future research. Understanding these impacts on the habitat and biota is essential to assess potential ecosystem changes and to develop best available techniques and robust management plans.

Urban green infrastructure attracts growing attention for its potential as a nature-based strategy to improve quality of life through the provision of ecosystem services. In this paper, we value cultural ecosystem services in relation to land-uses and management regimes of urban green infrastructure. Through a survey among 198 beneficiaries of the largest urban park in Barcelona, Spain, we assessed cultural ecosystem services in monetary and non-monetary terms in relation to land-uses and management regimes. Results from our research suggest that monetary and non-monetary valuations capture complementary information, and show that values of cultural ecosystem services change across different green infrastructure assets and management regimes. For example, ‘environmental learning’ generates low monetary values but high non-monetary values. Stronger place values were related with low management intensity, while values for tourism increase with land-uses embedding cultural facilities. We discuss monetary and non-monetary values in the light of urban green infrastructure strategies and indicate potentials for urban planning and management to proactively alter the provision of cultural ecosystem services through specific configurations of land-uses and management intensity.

Urban green infrastructure attracts growing attention for its potential as a nature-based strategy to improve quality of life through the provision of ecosystem services. In this paper, we value cultural ecosystem services in relation to land-uses and management regimes of urban green infrastructure. Through a survey among 198 beneficiaries of the largest urban park in Barcelona, Spain, we assessed cultural ecosystem services in monetary and non-monetary terms in relation to land-uses and management regimes. Results from our research suggest that monetary and non-monetary valuations capture complementary information, and show that values of cultural ecosystem services change across different green infrastructure assets and management regimes. For example, ‘environmental learning’ generates low monetary values but high non-monetary values. Stronger place values were related with low management intensity, while values for tourism increase with land-uses embedding cultural facilities. We discuss monetary and non-monetary values in the light of urban green infrastructure strategies and indicate potentials for urban planning and management to proactively alter the provision of cultural ecosystem services through specific configurations of land-uses and management intensity.

There are growing concerns about the impact of Marine Recreational Fishing (MRF) on marine ecosystems and its combined effects with other human activities, such as commercial fishing, especially on the higher trophic levels. Conversely, recreational fishers provide considerable economic benefits through their expenditure on many things including fishing tackle, boats, licenses, travel, and accommodation. However, research on MRF in Europe is limited, particularly in Southern countries. In Galicia (Northwest Spain) detailed information on MRF is still needed to support management and to reduce growing conflicts between recreational fishers and other stakeholders including the commercial fishing sector. This paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of MRF in Galicia including the economic, social, and ecological impacts, from a survey of 363 recreational fishers. It was estimated that there are 60 000 recreational fishers, comprised of 45 000 shore anglers, 12000 boat anglers and 3 000 spear fishers. Each year, they spend 86 EM on fishing gear and other expenses, while boat owners spend another 11 EM. Fishers activity is higher in summer and spring, especially in the case of boat anglers. Recreational fishers reported catching 38 species, but the most common were ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta), European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), and white seabream (Diplodus sargus). Annual recreational catch is about 7 500 t (5-13% of commercial and recreational landings of the same species); shore anglers are responsible for 50% of total MRF catches, boat anglers for 40%, and spear fishers for 10%. The results are discussed in the context of management that could improve the socio-ecological sustainability of MRF. | The authors acknowledge the valuable comments and suggestions received at the 8th World Recreational Fishing Conference in July 16-20th, 2017 at Victoria, Canada. PP thanks the financial support from Xunta de Galicia (RECREGES project under Grant ED481B2014/034-0), and to Paz Brage, Eugenia Rodriguez, Ma Jose Cancelo, Ma Nazaret Diaz, Pablo R. Fernandez, and Carmen de Benito from Xunta de Galicia for providing information about recreational fishing licenses. Also, thanks Jose. A. Beiro and Francisco J. Nunez, chairmen of FEDPEMAR and FEGAS respectively, for their help and support. SV is grateful to the Xunta de Galicia for financial aid through project GPC 2015-045, and ICES Science Fund Project "Social transformations of marine social ecological systems". MR wishes to acknowledge the financial support of the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) through the post-doctoral grant SFRH/BPD/116307/2016. CP would like to acknowledge FCT/ MEC national funds and FEDER co-funding, within the PT2020 partnership Agreement and Compete 2020, for the financial support to CESAM (Grant No. UID/AMB/50017/2013).

There are growing concerns about the impact of Marine Recreational Fishing (MRF) on marine ecosystems and its combined effects with other human activities, such as commercial fishing, especially on the higher trophic levels. Conversely, recreational fishers provide considerable economic benefits through their expenditure on many things including fishing tackle, boats, licenses, travel, and accommodation. However, research on MRF in Europe is limited, particularly in Southern countries. In Galicia (Northwest Spain) detailed information on MRF is still needed to support management and to reduce growing conflicts between recreational fishers and other stakeholders including the commercial fishing sector. This paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of MRF in Galicia including the economic, social, and ecological impacts, from a survey of 363 recreational fishers. It was estimated that there are 60 000 recreational fishers, comprised of 45 000 shore anglers, 12 000 boat anglers and 3000 spear fishers. Each year, they spend 86 €M on fishing gear and other expenses, while boat owners spend another 11 €M. Fishers’ activity is higher in summer and spring, especially in the case of boat anglers. Recreational fishers reported catching 38 species, but the most common were ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta), European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), and white seabream (Diplodus sargus). Annual recreational catch is about 7 500 t (5–13% of commercial and recreational landings of the same species); shore anglers are responsible for 50% of total MRF catches, boat anglers for 40%, and spear fishers for 10%. The results are discussed in the context of management that could improve the socio-ecological sustainability of MRF.

There is a growing interest of industry to replace synthetic chemicals by natural products with bioactive properties from plant origin. The aim of this study was to determine the chemical composition of European pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) essential oil and to characterize the in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of its water (hot and cold) and ethanolic extracts and of the essential oil. The essential oil revealed menthone, pulegone and neo-menthol as the main constituents, comprising 35.9, 23.2 and 9.2% of the essential oil, respectively. The hot water extract exhibited the highest antioxidant activity and phenol content. In contrast, the extracts were not very effective to inhibit the growth of the seven foodborne spoilage and pathogenic bacteria tested, but the essential oil showed antibacterial activity against all bacterial strains. In conclusion, extracts and essential oil of M. pulegium from Mediterranean origin have huge potential as an alternative to chemical additives for the food industry.

There is a growing interest of industry to replace synthetic chemicals by natural products with bioactive properties from plant origin. The aim of this study was to determine the chemical composition of European pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) essential oil and to characterize the in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of its water (hot and cold) and ethanolic extracts and of the essential oil. The essential oil revealed menthone, pulegone and neo-menthol as the main constituents, comprising 35.9, 23.2 and 9.2% of the essential oil, respectively. The hot water extract exhibited the highest antioxidant activity and phenol content. In contrast, the extracts were not very effective to inhibit the growth of the seven foodborne spoilage and pathogenic bacteria tested, but the essential oil showed antibacterial activity against all bacterial strains. In conclusion, extracts and essential oil of M. pulegium from Mediterranean origin have huge potential as an alternative to chemical additives for the food industry.

Despite the increasing concern given to air quality in urban and industrial areas in recent years, particular emphasis on regulation, control, and reduction of air pollutant emissions is still necessary to fully characterize the chain emissions-air quality-exposure-dose-health effects, for specific sources. The Estarreja region was selected as a case study because it has one of the largest chemical industrial complexes in Portugal that has been recently expanded, together with a growing urban area with an interesting location in the Portuguese coastland and crossed by important road traffic and rail national networks. This work presents the first air quality assessment for the region concerning pollutant emissions and meteorological and air quality monitoring data analysis, over the period 2000-2009. This assessment also includes a detailed investigation and characterization of past air pollution episodes for the most problematic pollutants: ozone and PM10. The contribution of different emission sources and meteorological conditions to these episodes is investigated. The stagnant meteorological conditions associated with local emissions, namely industrial activity and road traffic, are the major contributors to the air quality degradation over the study region. A set of measures to improve air quality--regarding ozone and PM10 levels--is proposed as an air quality management strategy for the study region.

Despite the increasing concern given to air quality in urban and industrial areas in recent years, particular emphasis on regulation, control, and reduction of air pollutant emissions is still necessary to fully characterize the chain emissions–air quality–exposure–dose–health effects, for specific sources. The Estarreja region was selected as a case study because it has one of the largest chemical industrial complexes in Portugal that has been recently expanded, together with a growing urban area with an interesting location in the Portuguese coastland and crossed by important road traffic and rail national networks. This work presents the first air quality assessment for the region concerning pollutant emissions and meteorological and air quality monitoring data analysis, over the period 2000–2009. This assessment also includes a detailed investigation and characterization of past air pollution episodes for the most problematic pollutants: ozone and PM10. The contribution of different emission sources and meteorological conditions to these episodes is investigated. The stagnant meteorological conditions associated with local emissions, namely industrial activity and road traffic, are the major contributors to the air quality degradation over the study region. A set of measures to improve air quality—regarding ozone and PM10 levels—is proposed as an air quality management strategy for the study region.