ICES CM 2011/D:16

Great Britain’s role in demersal fisheries A long-term perspective over the past century

Tina K. Kerby1,2, William W.L. Cheung1,2, Georg H. Engelhard2 1 School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, UK 2 Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), UK

Introduction - For accurate interpretation of fisheries data and revealing trends in fisheries, the historical contexts of influencing drivers have to be understood - Landing trends may not only be influenced by natural fluctuations or fishing pressure, but also by changing drivers affecting the - In the 19th and first half of the 20th century, in particular dominated North Sea demersal fisheries in Europe but lost this lead in the second half of the 20th century - Favourable terms of political, technological and economical drivers brought about this vast rise, but as well influenced the decline

North Sea demersal fisheries Gadoid outburst 1500 Other nations Russian Fed. & Un. Sov. Soc. Rep. Germany (incl. GDR) Development of large 1200 Netherlands scale modern fisheries Norway

) European countries 3 expanding their fisheries 900 England &

England takes 50% Scotland leading of total North Sea landings TACs and quotas 600 North Sea fishery

WW I WW II

300 Landings (tonnes x 10 x (tonnes Landings

0 1903 1908 1913 1918 1923 1928 1933 1938 1943 1948 1953 1958 1963 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 2003 2008

English demersal fisheries (incl. Wales)

800 Anglo-Icelandic All Seas )

3 Shift of North Sea fleet to prolific distant water grounds (e.g. North Sea North Sea contributes , Faroes) 600 50% to total landings Distant Water Grounds

400 EEZ introduction: loss of access to distant water grounds

200 Landings (tonnes x 10 x (tonnes Landings

0 1903 1908 1913 1918 1923 1928 1933 1938 1943 1948 1953 1958 1963 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 2003 2008

Drivers positively or negatively influencing the development in English North Sea fisheries

1903-1950s Dominance 1950s-2008 Decline Technology Technology - Large fleet of purpose built steam trawlers - Modern technological devices more precise and efficient fishery - Otter trawl 37% higher efficiency than formerly used beam trawls - Stern trawler freezers industrial scale fisheries - Vigneron-Dahl trawl further increased efficiency by 25-50% - Technological advances in other European countries

Politics Politics - No law restricting fisheries - Anglo-Icelandic cod wars withdrawal of British fleet from Icelandic waters - WW I and WW II service and losses of fishers and fishing vessels - EEZ introduction loss of distant water grounds; restricted fisheries - Total allowable catches and quota regulations

Economy Economy - Railway network opened up new markets for fish - Emphasis of North Sea fleets on prolific distant waters - Population growth increased demand increased supply - EEZs limited fishing grounds for overcapitalized distant water fleets - Flourishing ‘fish and chip shop‘ trade - Decline in per capita fish consumption

Conclusions - Much of the decline in England’s fisheries relates to political events and developments - When analysing landing data, not only biological responses of fish stocks to fishing and environmental changes should be taken into account, also changing political, economical and technological drivers have to be considered - Recovery of historical fisheries data are a prerequisite to interpret long-term changes and dynamics in ecosystems and fish populations

This work was funded by Defra contract MF1108 ‘100 Years of Change in Fish and Fisheries’ © Crown Copyright 2011