European Fisheries Ecosystem Plan
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European Fisheries Ecosystem Plan The North Sea significant web European Fisheries Ecosystem Plan: The North Sea significant web EU Project number: Q5RS-2001-016585 DELIVERABLE THREE S.Á. Ragnarsson and A. Jaworski Marine Research Institute, Iceland O.A.L. Paramor and C.L. Scott Dove Marine Laboratory, School of Marine Science and Technology, University of Newcastle, UK G. Piet Netherlands Institute for Fisheries Research, The Netherlands L. Hill Instituto Português de Investigação das Pescas e do Mar, Portugal ISBN 0-7017-0169-2 Authors: Stefan Aki Ragnarsson Marine Research Institute, Skulagata 4, P.O. Box 1390, 121 Reykjavik, ICELAND. e-mail: [email protected] Andrzej Jaworski Marine Research Institute, Skulagata 4, P.O. Box 1390, 121 Reykjavik, ICELAND. e-mail: [email protected] Catherine Scott Dove Marine Laboratory, School of Marine Science and Technology, University of Newcastle, Cullercoats, NE30 4PZ, UK. e-mail: [email protected] Odette Paramor Dove Marine Laboratory, School of Marine Science and Technology, University of Newcastle, Cullercoats, NE30 4PZ, UK. e-mail: [email protected] Gerjan Piet Netherlands Institute for Fisheries Research, Dept. Biology and Ecology, Haringkade 1, P.O. Box 68 1970 AB Ijmuiden, THE NETHERLANDS. e-mail: [email protected] Louize Hill Instituto Português de Investigação das Pescas e do Mar, Avenida da Brasilia, PT-1449-006, Lisboa, PORTUGAL. e-mail: [email protected] EUROPEAN FISHERIES ECOSYSTEM PLAN Preface This report describes the selection of the species and habitats which form the ‘significant web’ in the North Sea as a contribution to the development of a European Fisheries Ecosystem Plan (EFEP) (EU Project number Q5RS-2001- 01685). The aim of the EFEP project is to develop an ecosystem-based management plan for the fisheries of the North Sea. Over the last few decades, there is a growing understanding that harvesting natural resources can influence the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. For that reason, there is an increased interest for an ecosystem-based approach to management. For an ecosystem-based management to be fully operational, it is important to identify those key species and habitats which are the major drivers in the functioning of the ecosystem, as it is not practical, or even possible, to manage the whole system. However, while it is clear that some species and habitats are not such drivers, they may as well be important to society in other ways. For example, predation pressure on fish by guillemot (Uria aalge), which is an abundant seabird species, is greater than that of the much rarer roseate tern (Sterna dougallii). Removal of all guillemots from the North Sea could lead indirectly to changes in fish community structure as a result of predatory release, while removal of roseate terns would not. However, the roseate tern is an uncommon breeding bird within the North Sea, and protected by the EU Birds’ Directive (1979) and considered of societal value. In other words, there is a societal demand to protect roseate tern in order to maintain biodiversity. An important part of the EFEP project is to develop a suite of models under which several management scenarios can be run in order to examine their effect on ecosystem components and determine whether the outcomes of these are acceptable to both the public and scientists. One step to achieve that goal is to identify those species and habitats which are the key drivers in structuring the North Sea ecosystem and construct the North Sea ‘significant web’. With growing knowledge on the effects of fishing activities on the ecosystem, there is greater interest in conserving ecosystem integrity rather than focussing on individual species. In this report, the importance of species and habitats found in the North Sea were evaluated and those which were selected, constituted as part of the significant web. Such information is of vital importance v EUROPEAN FISHERIES ECOSYSTEM PLAN for modelling work which, furthermore, will advance the development of ecosystem-based management plans for fishing activities within the North Sea. S.Á.R. Reykjavik December 2003 vi EUROPEAN FISHERIES ECOSYSTEM PLAN Index EXECUTIVE SUMMARY....................................................................................xi CHAPTER ONE Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER TWO Methodology 1. Categories of importance.................................................................................... 3 2. Selection of species and habitats ........................................................................ 4 2.1 Seabirds...................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Marine mammals ....................................................................................... 7 2.3 Zooplankton ............................................................................................. 10 2.4 Fish........................................................................................................... 10 2.5 Benthos and habitats ................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER THREE Results 1. Seabirds............................................................................................................. 15 1.1 Economic importance .............................................................................. 15 1.2 Societal importance.................................................................................. 16 1.3 Ecological importance ............................................................................. 16 1.4 Functional importance ............................................................................. 20 1.5 General seabird population trends ........................................................... 24 1.6 Abundances throughout the North Sea .................................................... 24 2. Marine mammals .............................................................................................. 25 2.1 Cetaceans in the North Sea ...................................................................... 25 2.2 Pinnipeds in the North Sea....................................................................... 26 2.3 Individual summaries of cetaceans .......................................................... 26 2.3.1 Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena ............................................. 26 2.3.2 White-beaked dolphin Lagenorhynchus albirostris .......................... 28 2.3.3 White-sided dolphin Lagenorhynchus acutus ................................... 29 2.3.4 Killer whale Orcinus orca................................................................. 30 2.3.5 Minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata ........................................ 30 2.3.6 Bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncates ............................................ 31 2.3.7 Other species of cetaceans................................................................. 32 2.4 Distribution and abundances of small cetaceans in the North Sea .......... 33 2.5 Individual summaries of pinnipeds.......................................................... 38 2.5.1 Grey seal Halichoerus grypus ........................................................... 38 2.5.2 Common seal (or harbour seal) Phoca vitulina................................. 39 2.5.3 Other species of pinnipeds................................................................. 40 2.6 Seals: European status and distribution ................................................... 40 2.6.1 Grey seal Halichoerus grypus ........................................................... 40 2.6.2 Common seal Phoca vitulina ............................................................ 45 3. Zooplankton...................................................................................................... 48 3.1 Copepods ................................................................................................. 48 3.2 Individual summaries for zooplankton .................................................... 49 4. Fish ................................................................................................................... 56 vii EUROPEAN FISHERIES ECOSYSTEM PLAN 4.1 Dogfishes (Pleurotremata, Scyliorhinidae) ..............................................56 4.2 Skates and rays (Hypotremata, Rajidae) ..................................................57 4.3 Isopondyli, Clupeidae...............................................................................59 4.4 Anacanthini, Gadidae...............................................................................65 4.5 Red mullet (Percomorphi, Mullidae) .......................................................78 4.6 Sandeels (Ammodytidae) .........................................................................79 4.7 Trachinidae...............................................................................................87 4.8 Mackerels and tunnies (Scombridae) .......................................................88 4.9 Gobiidae ...................................................................................................90 4.10 Callionymidae ..........................................................................................95 4.11 Scleroparei, Gurnards (Triglidae) ............................................................97 4.12 Bullheads and sculpins (Cottidae)............................................................99