Acronym SUNFISH
Category
Fisheries
Title Sustainable fisheries, climate change and the North Sea ecosystem 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 Henrik Gislason Coordinator email hg@aqua.dtu.dk
Coordinator institution
DTU-AQUA - Technical University of Denmark; National Institute of Aquatic Resources (Denmark)
Institutions involved
DCSR - Danish Council for Strategic Research (Denmark) ,
NA - Not available (Germany) ,
NA - Not available (United Kingdom) ,
Start year 2008 End year 2012 Funding (€) € 1,800,823 Website http://databases.eucc-d.de/plugins/projectsdb/project.php?show=638 Summary Global climate changes will seriously challenge the governance of fisheries in the North Sea and elsewhere. Changes in temperature, wind conditions, river runoff and currents will affect primary and secondary production, the distribution, feeding, growth and survival of commercially exploited fish at all stages of life. Without improved knowledge about the effect of climate on the basic biological processes involved in fish production, it will be increasingly difficult to separate the effects of fishing from those of environmental fluctuations and change; identify biological reference points, and to develop management strategies for sustainable fisheries. By combining models of the effects of climate on the hydrographical and biological processes important for fish production with models of fish stock dynamics and fishing, the project will provide a basis for improved predictions of the effects of climate change on the sustainable exploitation and maximum yield of North Sea fish stocks. The dynamics of cod (a top predator) and sandeel (an important prey species for fish), seabirds and marine mammals will be studied in detail. Their spawning, egg and larval drift, juvenile and adult distribution, growth and survival will be investigated through experiments, statistical analyses of collected data and advanced bio-oceanographic models. The sustainability of exploitation under changing climate conditions will be examined by modifying an existing stochastic multi-species fisheries model to make it account for climate effects on fish ecology as well as mixed catches of different fishing fleets. The project will thus provide an integrated modelling framework, for developing sustainable fisheries management strategies, superior to using simple extrapolations of observed historical trends, to predict the likely outcome of climate change on the North Sea ecosystem.
The aim of the SUNFISH project was to understand and predict the effect of climate change on the biological processes involved in marine fish production in the North Sea, using cod, a top predator, and sandeel, an important prey, as case studies. This was done by studying and modelling the effects of temperature and other environmental variables on different parts of the life cycle of the two species based on lab experiments, statistical analyses of collected data and advanced bio-oceanographic modelling.
Keywords
Impacts;
Cod;
Life cycle;
Sandeel;
Fish;
Climate change;
Fish biology;
Marine Region
6
Central North Sea (27.IVb)
5
Southern North Sea (27.IVc)
2
Marine Region Map
