Acronym BENTHIS
Category
Fisheries
Title Benthic ecosystem fisheries impact study Programme FP7
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
FP7 - Collaborative Project targeted to a Special Group (such as SMEs)
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 Adriaan Rijnsdorp Coordinator email adriaan.rijnsdorp@wur.nl
Coordinator institution
DLO - Stichting Dienst Landbouwkundig Onderzoek (Netherlands)
Institutions involved
AU - Aarhus University (Denmark) ,
NA - Anton Dekker Beheer BV (Netherlands) ,
NA - Bangor University (United Kingdom) ,
DEFRA - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (United Kingdom) ,
FRS - Fisheries Research Services (United Kingdom) ,
NA - Fiskeriselskabet Gi - Bri AS (Denmark) ,
VLAGEW - Flemish Region of Belgium (Belgium) ,
IFREMER - French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (France) ,
IMR - Institute of Marine Research (Norway) ,
NA - Malkoçoğlu Balıkçılık Hayvancılık Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Şirketi (Turkey) ,
MI - Marine Institute (Ireland) ,
NA - Marine Monitoring Vid Kristineberg AB (Sweden) ,
TAGEM - Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock (Turkey) ,
NA - Mori Carlo Srl (Italy) ,
NA - Nagel Cornelis Wijbe (Netherlands) ,
CNR - National Research Council (Italy) ,
NA - National Research Council - Institute of Marine Engineering (Italy) ,
NA - Officina Meccanica Navale Grilli SAS (Italy) ,
OMU - Ondokuz Mayis University (Turkey) ,
NA - Retimar Di Paci Nazzareno & C SNC (Italy) ,
NA - Sadiklar Soguk Hava Tesisleri Ve Su Urunleri Sanayi Ticaret Ltd Sti (Turkey) ,
NA - Susanne H PR (Denmark) ,
SLU - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden) ,
NA - Syntesa sp (Denmark) ,
DTU - Technical University of Denmark (Denmark) ,
NA - TREGUIER Laurent (France) ,
UOA - University of Aberdeen (United Kingdom) ,
KU - University of Copenhagen (Denmark) ,
NA - VG86 Atlas (Sweden) ,
NA - VOF Pesce 43 (Netherlands) ,
NA - Wittrup Seafood AS (Denmark) ,
NA - Yann Jean Joseph DIDELOT (France) ,
Start year 2012 End year 2017 Funding (€) € 7,784,926 Website http://www.benthis.eu/en/ Summary Benthic ecosystems provide important goods and services, such as fisheries products and supporting, regulation and cultural services. There is serious concern about the adverse impact of fisheries on benthic ecosystems which may negatively affect the fisheries yield and integrity of the sea bed. To develop an integrated approach to the management of human activities in the marine environment, in particular fishing, there is a need to develop quantitative tools to assess the impact of fisheries on the benthic ecosystem and at the same time collaborate with the fishing industry to develop innovative technologies and new management approaches to reduce the impact on benthic ecosystems. BENTHIS will provide the knowledge to further develop the ecosystem approach to fisheries management as required in the Common Fisheries Policy and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. It will study the diversity of benthic ecosystems in European waters and the role of benthic species in the ecosystem functioning. Fisheries impacts will be studied on benthic organisms and on the geochemistry. The newly acquired knowledge will be synthesized in a number of generic tools that will be combined into a fishing/seabed habitat risk assessment method that will be applied to fisheries in the Baltic, North Sea, Western waters, Mediterranean and Black Sea. Fisheries will be selected with the fishing industry based on the impact on the benthic ecosystem. BENTHIS will integrate fishing industry partners to collaborate in testing the performance of innovative technologies to reduce fishing impact. Finally, in collaboration with the fishing industry and other stakeholders, new management approaches will be developed and tested on their effects on the ecosystem and the socio-economic consequences. As such, BENTHIS will provide the urgently needed scientific basis to integrate the role of marine benthic ecosystems in fisheries management.
(1) Assess the status of different types of marine benthic ecosystems in European waters on a regional basis and support indicators of Good Environmental Status (GES), in particular on Seafloor Integrity; (2) Develop tools to assess effects of bottom trawling on the structure and functioning of EU benthic ecosystems; (3) Develop and test, in close collaboration with the fishing industry, innovative technologies that reduce the impact of trawl fisheries on the benthic ecosystem (Baltic, North Sea, western waters, Mediterranean and Black Sea); (4) Develop sustainable management plans that reduce the impact of fishing and quantify its ecological and socio-economic consequences, together with the fishing industry and other stakeholders on a regional scale.
Keywords
Fishing industry;
Environmental impact;
Physical disturbance;
Fishing technology;
Fisheries management;
Trawling;
Gear technology;
Marine Region
5
Southern North Sea (27.IVc)
74
Northern Adriatic (GSA 17)
23
Baltic West of Bornholm (27.IIId.24)
3
Marine Region Map
