Acronym FACTS
Category
Fisheries
Title Forage fish interactions Programme FP7
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
FP7 - Small or Medium-Scale Focused Research Project
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
KBBE – Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology
Specific Programme (FP7)
Cooperation
Funding source European Coordinator Stefan Neuenfeldt Coordinator email stn@aqua.dtu.dk
Coordinator institution
DTU - Technical University of Denmark (Denmark)
Institutions involved
NA - Azti (Spain) ,
CAU - Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (Germany) ,
DEFRA - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (United Kingdom) ,
FGFRI - Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute (Finland) ,
IFREMER - French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (France) ,
NA - GCE Blue Maritime Cluster (Norway) ,
IMR - Institute of Marine Research (Norway) ,
IOW - Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (Germany) ,
IEO - Spanish Institute of Oceanography (Spain) ,
KU - University of Copenhagen (Denmark) ,
UHH - University of Hamburg (Germany) ,
SDU - University of Southern Denmark (Denmark) ,
USTAN - University of St Andrews (United Kingdom) ,
WUR-IMARES - Wageningen University and Research; Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies (Netherlands) ,
Start year 2010 End year 2012 Funding (€) € 3,883,966 Website https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/244966 Summary Removal of a forage fish has consequences for both predators and prey of forage fish. As everything is connected, every management action has a price which goes beyond the apparent, direct effect on the target species. The fishery on forage fish can therefore not be seen in isolation, as the immediate gain in profit from the fishery has to be discounted by the lowered potential for production of large piscivorous fish. Management actions on other species also influences forage fish, i.e. conservation efforts on marine mammals or sea birds have direct consequences for the predation pressure on forage fish. The objective of the project is to provide insight and quantitative advice on the ecosystem wide consequences of management actions directly or indirectly related to forage fish. The two overarching questions are: (1) What are the consequences of forage fish fisheries on (a) predator growth and abundance, (b) economic output of fisheries on piscivorous species, and (c) ecosystem stability and the risk for regime shifts; (2) What are the consequences of changes in predator populations on forage fish populations and fisheries. The methods is a combination of ecosystem models, of process studies aimed at feeding into the models, of economical models, and of data-analysis of existing data sources. The project covers four ecosystems in detail; Norwegian-Barents Sea, Baltic Sea, North Sea and Bay of Biscay. FACTS bring together leading European fisheries and university institutes working on creating the tools for ecosystem based management. The active involvement of the institutes in the current management provides a means for the results of the project to feed into management. The project furthermore includes a network component which ensures a wider dissemination of methods and results within the marine scientific community.
FACTS developed and disseminated advice on the consequences of various forage fish harvest strategies to the ecosystem including their economic implications. FACTS research focused on seven forage fish species (anchovy, herring, capelin, Norway pout, sardine, sand eel and sprat) that are a major natural resource to the European community and represent key elements in the functioning of marine ecosystems. FACTS eliminated critical gaps in knowledge concerning the impact of variations in forage fish populations (due to various drivers such as climate and fishing) on the trophodynamic structure and function of different European marine ecosystems. To accomplish this goal, FACTS answered the following questions: (1) What are the major short- and long-term drivers of changes in commercially and ecologically important forage fish populations within European waters?; (2) What are the biological and economic consequences of changes in forage fish populations in terms of their prey, their competitors and their predators?; (3) What are the biological and economic consequences of changes in predator populations on forage fish populations and their fisheries?; (4) What is the role of forage fish species in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem stability?
Keywords
Herring;
Ecosystem approach;
Anchovy;
Sandeel;
Impacts;
Sardine;
Food web;
Environmental impact;
Economy;
Sprat;
Climate change;
Fish;
Fishing mortality;
Marine Region
42
Barents Sea (27.I)
18
West of Gotland (27.IIId.27)
27
Bothnian Bay (27.IIId.31)
12
Bay of Biscay North (27.VIIIa)
13
Northern North Sea (27.IVa)
21
Southern Central Baltic-East (27.IIId.26)
14
Skagerrak, Kattegat (27.IIIa)
16
East of Gotland or Gulf of Riga (27.IIId.28)
23
Baltic West of Bornholm (27.IIId.24)
6
Central North Sea (27.IVb)
24
Sound, Belt Sea or Transition Area (27.IIIb,c)
15
Bay of Biscay Central (27.VIIIb)
20
Archipelago Sea (27.IIId. 29)
19
Gulf of Finland (27.IIId.32)
22
Southern Central Baltic-West (27.IIId.25)
17
Bothnian Sea (27.IIId.30)
41
Norwegian Sea (27.IIa)
5
Southern North Sea (27.IVc)
18
Marine Region Map
