Acronym CODPOP
Category
Fisheries
Title Understanding the role of population structuring in the maintenance of cod stocks under changing fishing and climatic pressures 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 Peter Wright Coordinator email P.J.Wright@marlab.ac.uk
Coordinator institution
FRS - Fisheries Research Services (United Kingdom)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2004 End year 2007 Funding (€) € 126,766 Website NA Summary The objective of this project has been identified as a major scientific issue by a STECF Meeting in 2001. In terms of progressing the immediate needs of fishery managers to manage cod and other fisheries, the project will tackle the concerns surrounding many declines in fish stock abundance that have been associated with a contraction in spatial distribution and the loss of distinct reproductive populations, as in the case of the Northern cod stock collapse. Failure to recognise population structuring in the past has been linked with inflated estimates of particular year-classes and the overestimation of total stock abundance. This project integrates the output from a number of individual research contracts in order to produce synthesis and summary products of relevance to current policy issues. The overall objective of this project is to develop the conceptual and mathematical basis for advising on how fisheries management measures might be framed to conserve or restore not only stock biomass, but also population diversity of cod stocks around Scotland. To do this, requires an understanding of the relative contributions of fishing and climate to changes in the population structure and dynamics of cod. This will require work into the following areas: (1) levels of genetic and phenotypic structuring among spawning aggregations population specific information on key habitats (nursery, spawning, feeding areas); (2) population specific information on the relation between recruitment and environmental conditions; (3) population specific information on the relation between movements and environmental conditions; (4) development of population models which resolve the spatial sub-structure and allow exploration of the consequences of exploitation patterns for the maintenance of structure and the state of the stock as a whole. (5) incorporation of the summarised properties of the spatially resolved population models into the standard assessment tools used for stock projections by the ICES Assessment WGs. The specific objectives of this project will include those from existing contracts but importantly will ensure that the results from the various studies are integrated into a synthesis of information on cod populations that will enable the development of a biologically sound framework for advising on how best to manage cod stocks around Scotland.
Goals:
(1) Levels of genetic and phenotypic structuring among spawning aggregations population specific information on key habitats (nursery, spawning, feeding areas); (2) Population specific information on the relation between recruitment and environmental conditions; (3) Population specific information on the relation between movements and environmental conditions; (4) Development of population models which resolve the spatial sub-structure and allow exploration of the consequences of exploitation patterns for the maintenance of structure and the state of the stock as a whole; (5) Incorporation of the summarised properties of the spatially resolved population models into the standard assessment tools used for stock projections by the ICES Assessment WGs.
Keywords
Recruitment;
Fish habitat;
Genetic;
Environmental impact;
Fishing mortality;
Impacts;
Fisheries management;
Cod;
Fish;
Climate change;
Population dynamic;
Marine Region
6
Central North Sea (27.IVb)
13
Northern North Sea (27.IVa)
26
Northwest Coast of Scotland and North Ireland (27.VIa)
3
Marine Region Map
