ICES has identified red gurnard Aspitrigla cuculus (L.) as a potential commercial species and recommended that monitoring programmes should be conducted to derive information on biological parameters for stock assessment purposes. In this paper, data on the population biology of red gurnard in the coastal waters of Northwest Wales and Eastern Anglesey are presented. Total length (TL) of fish sampled ranged from 15.4 to 35.0 cm (males) and 10.5 to 43.1 cm (females), with the majority of females between 20 and 30 cm TL (70.0%) and males between 20 and 30 cm TL (71.0%). TL ⁄ weight (W) relations were similar between immature and mature individuals for both sexes and between both sexes (all maturity stages combined), producing a combined data equation W = 0.005 TL 3.19 . Age of fish ranged from 1 to 7 years and 1 to 6 years, respectively, for females and males, with the majority of females age 3 (37%) and the majority of males age 2 (49%). The age structures of female and male red gurnards were significantly different, with the older age classes consisting predominantly of female fish. Both males and females exhibited similar asymptotic growth patterns; the combined von Bertalanffy growth function was L t ¼ 42:4ð1 À e ½À0:21ðtþ1:21Þ Þ. Instantaneous rates of total mortality were calculated as 1.13 year )1 for males and 0.98 year )1 for females. The size (L 50 ) and age at first maturity (A 50 ) were estimated to be 26.3 cm TL and 3.6 years for males, 28.1 cm TL and 3.5 years for females and 25.6 cm TL and 3.7 years for both sexes combined.

Soil, water and food supply composition data have been combined to primarily estimate micronutrient intakes and subsequent risk of deficiencies in each of the regions studied by generating new data to supplement and update existing food balance sheets. These data capture environmental influences, such as soil chemistry and the drinking water sources to provide spatially resolved crop and drinking water composition data, where combined information is currently limited, to better inform intervention strategies to target micronutrient deficiencies. Approximately 1500 crop samples were analysed, representing 86 food items across 50 sites in Tanzania in 2013 and >230 sites in Western Kenya between 2014 and 2018. Samples were analysed by ICP-MS for 58 elements, with this paper focussing on calcium (Ca), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), selenium (Se), iodine (I), zinc (Zn) and molybdenum (Mo). In general, micronutrient supply from food groups was higher from Kilimanjaro,Tanzania than Counties in Western Kenya, albeit from a smaller sample. For both countries leafy vegetable and vegetable food groups consistently contained higher median micronutrient concentrations compared to other plant based food groups. Overall, calculated deficiency rates were <1% for Cu and Mo and close to or >90% for Ca, Zn and I in both countries. For Mg, a slightly lower risk of deficiency was calculated for Tanzania at 0 to 1% across simplified soil classifications and for female/males, compared to 3 to 20% for Kenya. A significant difference was observed for Se, where a 3 to 28% risk of deficiency was calculated for Tanzania compared to 93 to 100% in Kenya. Overall, 11 soil predictor variables, including pH and organic matter accounted for a small proportion of the variance in the elemental concentration of food. Tanzanian drinking water presented several opportunities for delivering greater than 10% of the estimated average requirement (EAR) for micronutrients. For example, 1 to 56% of the EAR for I and up to 10% for Se or 37% for Zn could be contributed via drinking water.

In the hands of trained operators, there appears to be no clinically significant difference in success, time to intubation, or adverse outcomes, when comparing the Bonfils with the McCoy laryngoscope, in the setting of a simulated difficult airway. The choice to use either device should remain based on appropriate patient selection, available aids, individual operator's experience, and economic circumstances.

Spot urinary iodine concentrations (UIC) are presented for 248 individuals from western Kenya with paired drinking water collected between 2016 and 2018. The median UIC was 271 µg L -1 , ranging from 9 to 3146 µg L -1 , unadjusted for hydration status/dilution. From these data,12% were potentially iodine deficient (<100 µg L -1 ), whilst 44% were considered to have an excess iodine intake (>300 µg L -1 ). The application of hydration status/urinary dilution correction methods were evaluated for UICs, using creatinine, osmolality and specific gravity. The use of specific gravity correction for spot urine samples to account for hydration status/urinary dilution presents a practical approach for studies with limited budgets, rather than relying on unadjusted UICs, 24 hour sampling, use of significantly large sample size in a cross-sectional study and other reported measures to smooth out the urinary dilution effect. Urinary corrections did influence boundary assessment for deficiencysufficiency-excess for this group of participants, ranging from 31 to 44% having excess iodine intake, albeit for a study of this size. However, comparison of the correction methods did highlight that 22% of the variation in UICs was due to urinary dilution, highlighting the need for such correction, although creatinine performed poorly, yet specific gravity as a lowcost method was comparable to osmolality corrections as the often stated 'gold standard' metric for urinary concentration. Paired drinking water samples contained a median iodine concentration of 3.2 µg L -1 (0.2-304.1 µg L -1 ). A weak correlation was observed between UIC and water-I concentrations (R = 0.11).

17 Scientific information about European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) stocks in NE Atlantic

Large-scale compressed air ene using solution-mined caverns in salt lithologies. For optimum gas storage efficiency, cavern geometry should ideally be smooth: spherical to cylindrical with a circular cross-section. However, such caverns are often irregular with marked asymmetry or ellipticity, and whilst the reasons for non-circular crosssections developing during solution-mining in some caverns can be related to e.g. the presence of interbedded lithologies, in other instances they are not fully understood. Cavities from dissolution experiments using five main end-member salt facies fabrics from the Triassic Preesall and Northwich Halite formations have been assessed to determine factors affecting cavity geometry, formation and variability in dissolution behaviour. Identical sets of experiments were performed on each fabric type, using two solution concentration strengths: brine and synthetic seawater. Comparison of experimental results using a combination of analytical and imaging techniques show the extent to which the salt fabric and enhancement of features within the salt influences the resulting dissolution cavity. Observations show a visible increase in micropores within the adjacent halite matrix following dissolution. Smaller-scale features provide further insights into the dissolution processes, and salt fabric behaviour under different dissolution conditions.

Summary The tub gurnard Chelidonichthys lucerna has been identified by ICES as a potential commercial species in the northeast Atlantic with recommendations made to monitor landings and discards and to derive information on population biology for stock assessment purposes, however, data are lacking for the species in the northeast Atlantic. Therefore, aims of this study were to provide data on the size/age‐structure and patterns of growth, maturity and mortality of C. lucerna in Northwest Wales, UK, and in doing so to provide data on the biological characteristics of the most northerly population studied to date for comparison with the existing data for southerly Mediterranean populations. Data on the age, growth and maturity of C. lucerna were collected by otter trawling (73 mm cod‐end stretched mesh size) in the coastal waters of Northwest Wales, UK in October (2000–2011, excluding 2006). Total length (TL) of fish sampled ranged between 10.5–41.0 cm (males) and 10.4–57.5 cm (females). The majority of the female fish were between 20–30 cm TL (60.2%) and the majority of the male fish between 20–30 cm TL (58.3%) respectively. TL/weight (W) relations for male and female fish were similar and the combined data was described by W = 0.0067 TL3.10. Age of fish ranged between 1–7 years old for female fish and 1–5 years old for male fish respectively with the majority of female fish 3 years old (40%) and the majority of male fish 3 years old (37%). The age structures of female and male tub gurnards were not significantly different with the older age classes consisting predominantly of female fish. Both males and females exhibited similar asymptotic growth patterns and the combined von Bertalanffy growth function was TLt = 51.6 (1 − e [−0.25(t + 0.41)]). Instantaneous rates of total mortality were calculated as 1.04 year−1 for males and 1.11 year−1 for females. The size (L50) and age at first maturity (A50) were estimated to be 29.1 cm TL and 2.8 years for males, 27.7 cm TL and 2.7 years for females and 28.0 cm TL and 2.8 years for both sexes combined. The results of this study provide the first information on the biology and population dynamics of C. lucerna in the Irish Sea, the first data collected in the northeast Atlantic since 1985 and the most northerly population studied to date.

Nutrient deficiency is still prevalent in Southeast Asia. Freshwater mussels (Unionida) are widespread and consumed by low-income, rural and indigenous communities, but their biochemistry is poorly known. We assessed concentrations of nutrients and harmful heavy metals in Malaysian freshwater mussels. Three replicate batches of 5-10 specimens of native Pilsbryoconcha compressa and non-native Sinanodonta woodiana were collected from one and three habitats, respectively, i.e. a rice paddy channel (both species), a lake and an abandoned mining pool (only S. woodiana). Macro-and micronutrient concentrations were determined on freezedried, ground mussel meat powder using established methods, including inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and direct mercury analyser. Concentrations differed significantly between and within species, but all populations were excellent sources of essential micronutrients. A serving of six mussels on average covered >100% of the recommended daily intake for adults of chromium, iron and manganese, and about 40-60% of calcium, copper, selenium and zinc. However, three of the four populations exceeded permissible levels of some heavy metals, especially arsenic and lead. Protein levels were low with 5-9 g 100 g-1 wet weight. Freshwater mussels may therefore represent an important nutrient source for rural, low-income communities, but should not be eaten in large quantities.