Acronym NA
Category
Fisheries
Title Biological investigations on biodiversity, species protection and the rational use of living marine resources Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Siegfried Ehrich Coordinator email siegfried.ehrich@vti.bund.de
Coordinator institution
TI SF - Thünen-Institute of Sea Fisheries (Germany)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2001 End year 2007 Funding (€) € NA Website NA Summary The North Sea is a geologically young and dynamic ecosystem where natural changes in species composition and population sizes can be substantial. The natural fluctuations are superimposed by manifold and increasing human activities of which fisheries are among the most important. In contrast to the North Sea, the Southern Ocean is a geologically old system, which has been relatively stable over the last 15 - 20 million years. However, the Southern Ocean has been utilized by man for more than 200 years now. Exploitation focussed on the seals and later on whales for the first 170 years. During the last 35 years, Antarctic fish stocks have also been exploited intensely. Separating natural variation from human impact is a challenge both to fisheries and marine science. The Institute of Sea Fisheries (SF) participates in national and international multidiscipline projects to investigate medium-term (5-10 years) and long-term (>10 years) fluctuations in benthic and fish communities in the North Sea. Within the framework of ICES and the EU, large-scale surveys covering the entire North Sea are conducted. The SFs research on biodiversity aims at identifying functional relationships between marine resources and their biotic and abiotic environment. This research forms an important basis for the future management of fish stocks. In evaluating ecosystem-wide effects, additional studies on species that are not target organisms of the commercial fisheries become increasingly relevant. These include analyses of population structures and of species distributions in different habitats. Studies in the Southern Ocean cover to a lesser extent the investigation of fish and plankton communities within the framework of CCAMLR (Conservation on Antarctic Marine Living Resources). Working groups: ACE (Advisory Committee on Fishery Management)/Advice, ACE/Advice ASC, ACE/WGECO (Ecosystem Effects of Fishing Activities), ACFM/WGNEW (Assessment of New MoU Species), WGHARP/Seals, LRC (Living Resources Committee)/WGFE (Fish Ecology), CCAMLR Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management, CCAMLR Working Group on Fish Stock Assessment, CCAMLR Scientific Committee Research cruises: 2 cruises per year with FRV "Walther Herwig III" and 1 with FRV "Solea", 1 cruise each or every second year with FRV "Polarstern" or FRV "Yuzhmorgeologiya" (US - German cooperation) Participating institutions: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association (AWI), Bremerhaven, Germany; Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt, Germany; Southwest Fisheries Science Centre, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Keywords
Fish biology;
Fish habitat;
Fish;
Marine Region
6
Central North Sea (27.IVb)
1
Marine Region Map
