The 1st week of November, the CODCHANGE team held a 2-day workshop on “Mortality dynamics of Atlantic cod in Skagerrak” at the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES, University of Oslo) with participation of both Norwegian and Spanish partners. Project manager, Dr. Albert Fernandez Chacon presented an overview of current knowledge on mortality dynamics of cod in Skagerrak, highlighting its continuous population decline since the 1980s and the growing importance of recreational fishing on adult mortality since the 2000s, demonstrated by previous research using mark-recapture methods and tags reported by fishers. Prof. Torbjørn Ergon presented methods to estimate mortality hazards from existing mark-recapture data, an alternative approach to better investigate different causes of mortality (natural vs. anthropogenic) and their dependence on continuous individual traits, such as body size. Finally, Dr. David Villegas Rios presented his research using acoustically tagged cod from Tvedestrand Fjord, showing the compensatory dynamics between fishing mortality and natural mortality before an after the establishment of an MPA in that fjord. This workshop allowed us to meet in person and engage in fruitful discussions to further develop research questions and ideas within WP2 of CODCHANGE project. Stay tuned for future project updates!
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