Recommendations for management

• Management of marine biodiversity in the Skagerrak needs to be based on knowledge about species population structure and connectivity.
• Management should be fine-scaled enough to capture population structure within the Skagerrak, often on the scale of 10s of km, especially along the coast and within fjords.
• Fisheries management, MPA design and marine spatial planning need to consider both coastal and offshore marine areas.
• Management needs to consider that different populations may coexist at certain times in a given area. This is especially relevant in fisheries management, when different stocks coexist, and where genetic mixed-stock analysis should be implemented to disentangle and estimate the proportions of the different stocks.
• More information on population structure and connectivity is needed, both for sessile and mobile species.
• Adaptive strategies that incorporate both spatial and temporal management are more likely to succeed in creating a robust and future-proof biodiversity management in the Skagerrak.