Fishing Focus

Supplement
Summer 2010
Marine Fisheries
Science 2009/2010
Defra funds scientific work to increase our understanding of marine fisheries;
to allow us to develop soundly based policies for managing fisheries in our
waters; and to help us to negotiate effectively in the European Union.
This supplement highlights
examples of our marine fisheries
science projects from April 2009
to March 2010.
We funded four types of marine
fisheries scientific work:
Fish stock monitoring and
assessment, which provide
annual information about the
state of fish stocks, to feed
into national and international
scientific advice.
Sustainable marine fisheries
research, which includes long-
term studies of the status and
structure of fish stocks around
our coast and the impact of
climate change on them.
The Fisheries Science Partnership, started in 2003, which encourages scientists and fishermen to work
together. The Partnership charters commercial fishing vessels for surveys of particular fish stocks or
other scientific investigations, which are carried out on the normal commercial fishing grounds using
the normal gear of the chartered vessels.
The Fisheries Challenge Fund, started in 2005 and run by the Marine and Fisheries Agency (now
subsumed into the Marine Management Organisation), which funded short-term scientific projects
(as well as economic and social projects) suggested by organisations with an interest in fisheries.

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Our annual fish stock monitoring and assessment studies are fed into scientific
advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) and the
European Unions Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF).
Their advice informs policy decisions on the management of fisheries.
Our monitoring work involves fishing surveys, market sampling and discard sampling,
organised by national laboratories, such as Cefas (Centre for Environment, Fisheries
and Aquaculture Science).
Fishing surveys and market sampling
In 2009 Cefas research vessel, Cefas
Endeavour spent 119 days at sea on
five monitoring surveys in the North
Sea, eastern Channel, Celtic Sea and
a combined survey in the Irish Sea and
Bristol Channel. A further 51 days
fishing were carried out on chartered
commercial vessels surveying for bass
in the Solent and Thames, herring in
the Thames, flatfish in the western
Channel, and juvenile flatfish along
the North Sea coast from the Humber
to the Thames.
A total of 204,845 length
measurements and 28,107 samples for
age determination were collected from
finfish landings and 65,508 length
measurements from shellfish. All the
main fleets and gear types which
contribute significantly to the English
and Welsh landings were sampled
during the year.
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Sustainable marine fisheries research
Defra funds the following sustainable marine fisheries research:
Impact of fishing on the marine ecosystem To understand how fishing affects the productivity of the fish
and shellfish resource and other vulnerable species and habitats. Projects running in 2009/10 included piloting
an ecosystem approach to fisheries in the south-west of England; and developing technologies to minimise
discards.
Effects of the environment on fish stocks To understand how changes in environmental conditions affect
fisheries productivity. Studies running in 2009/10 included finding out what affects recruitment of scallops in
the English Channel; improving understanding of the populations of commercial fish species valued by anglers
(e.g. bass) and species of conservation interest (e.g. skates and rays); checking movements of edible crabs
(Cancer pagurus) in the English Channel; and identifying what eats fish eggs and larvae.
Fisheries management tools To provide the tools for better fisheries management including improved
understanding of the status of fish and shellfish stocks. Our work in 2009/10 included using genetic egg
identification for monitoring cod recovery in the Irish Sea; improving understanding of shellfish management;
and assessing recreational sea angling activity and management measures for species including bass, tope
and salmon.
Fish stock monitoring and assessment

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Scientists working on the Cefas Endeavour
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What eats fish eggs and larvae in the open sea?
Losses of fish eggs and larvae to predators
affects the sustainability of stocks but has
been poorly understood and therefore
ignored in many fisheries assessment models.
Predators include herring, sprat, shrimps and
jellyfish. Numbers of some predators such as
North Sea herring and jellyfish are increasing,
possibly because of warming of the North
Sea and changes in its zooplankton. These
predators could affect the long-term stock
viability or stock recovery of commercial fish
such as cod and plaice.
This project developed, modified and tested gene probes and successfully detected cod, haddock, whiting
and plaice DNA in the stomachs of predators such as whiting, crab, shrimp, squid and moon jellyfish. It also
modified existing physical-biological models of the way plaice eggs and larvae disperse in the Irish Sea to
cover cod and haddock, and to include the North Sea.
Defra is using the project results to inform policy advice to the EU on recovery plans and long-term
sustainability of stocks under climate change. In particular, the modified model allows scientists to establish
the level of predation of cod eggs and larvae to find out if this is a significant factor for the western Irish Sea
stock, which has not recovered despite eight years of protection, including a recovery plan.

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Gut contents of a North Sea whiting
The Fisheries Science Partnership 2009/10 projects included further annual
surveys of north-east coast cod, western anglerfish, Irish Sea roundfish, western
Channel sole and plaice and North Sea whitefish; and one-off projects on Irish Sea
razorfish, Sussex whelks, Eliminator-type gear trials in the North Sea saithe fishery,
development of CCTV on western Irish Sea Nephrops vessels, cod tagging in the
north Thames region, and trials of selective gear for bass.
Selective gear for bass
Local trawlermen working in the Bristol Channel
and the South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee both
suggested that square-mesh panels fitted into trawls
used to catch bass could reduce discards of undersize
(30cm in length and below) bass. A modified trawl
with a square-mesh section was tested against a
control trawl without a square mesh section.
In August 2009, 46 hauls were made from the MFV
Cerulean. The section of square-mesh netting fitted
well in the trawl and retained its shape during fishing.
Catches were sampled and video footage was taken of fish behaviour at the square-mesh section. The
numbers of bass caught varied hugely between hauls, with three hauls yielding most of the bass caught.
When using the square mesh trawl undersized bass were 11% of the total bass catch. When using the
control trawl without the square mesh panel they were 30%
The video footage showed small bass escaping from the square-mesh section of the trawl. The number of
discards of other species caught per hour per haul was on average 14% lower when using the square-mesh
section. Fitting square mesh panels to trawls could help to improve bass stocks.
The Fisheries Science Partnership

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Square-mesh section of net constructed of 90mm
knotless white twine
Printed on recycled paper containing 80% post-consumer waste and 20% totally chlorine free virgin pulp. Please recycle if possible.
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Fisheries Challenge Fund projects completed in 2009/10 included a survey of lobster
stocks in the Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee district; preparation of an
identification guide for sharks and rays; trials of a bycatch reduction device in nets to
reduce discard levels and increase the survival of discarded fish; and a review of the
operation of land-based warm water recirculation fish farms in England.
Harvesting seed mussels
The Kent and Essex coasts have traditionally produced high
quality oysters and cockles, but in the last ten years harvesting
seed mussels has emerged as an industry. Seed mussels
provide some local boats with non-quota fisheries and have
given fishermen the ability to diversify from pressure stocks
(Dover sole, cod, skates and rays). This project investigated
the biology, distribution, harvesting and management of
seed mussel populations in the Kent and Essex Sea Fisheries
Committee district to inform management decisions. Mussel
stocks can take a long time to recover from overfishing, so
effective management is needed for long-term sustainability.
The project found that the mussel populations in the district
were generally small (compared to areas like the Wash), widely dispersed, and population structures varied
between hard rocky shores and soft sandy/muddy shores. Numbers, and in some cases locations, varied
dramatically from year to year. Monthly intertidal samples suggest that stocks spawn in April/May, with spat
settlement from May to August. The project also found that it was very tricky to identify accurately the adult
mussel bed(s) providing the larvae which became the subtidal seed mussel bed. This made it difficult to know
which adult beds should be managed to make sure that there are enough mature adults to fish the stock
sustainably. These findings led to recommendations for an effective management strategy for sustainability,
including using the industrys vessels and gear to survey new seed mussel beds when they are identified;
setting up a GIS (Geographical Information System) to record the location and abundance of intertidal and
subtidal mussel beds for fishermen and managers; and developing management principles.
Marine Science Yearbook
Defras Marine Science Yearbook 2009/10, to be published in the autumn, replaces our separate Marine
Fisheries Science and Marine Environment Science Yearbooks. It will include a range of science projects
illustrating our work, as well as listing all the projects we have recently funded. We hope the Yearbook will
increase understanding of scientists work and encourage people to let us have ideas for future research.
The Fisheries Challenge Fund
Where to get more information
You can read the Marine Fisheries Science Yearbooks for 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/9 and the Marine
Science Yearbook 2009/10 (later this year) at: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/marine/science/yearbook.htm
You can find out more about:
sustainable marine fisheries research projects at:
http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=Detail&Completed=0&FOSID=17
Fisheries Science Partnership projects at: www.cefas.co.uk/data/fisheries-science-partnership-(fsp).aspx
Fisheries Challenge Fund Projects at: www.marinemanagement.org.uk/fisheries/grants/fcf.htm
If you have any queries please email fisheriesscience@defra.gsi.gov.uk or phone 020 7238 4687.

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Harvested mussels