ICES Journal of Marine Science

https://academic.oup.com/icesjms

List of Papers (Total 2,792)

Long-term changes in growth and population abundance of sole in the North Sea from 1940 to the present

Sole stocks in the North Sea have shown a threefold variation in abundance over the past 50 years, largely as a result of fishing activity and variability in recruitment. Natural fluctuations in abundance have also occurred as a result of severe winter mortality as in 1962/1963 when the spawning stock biomass was reduced by more than half. Analysis of historical growth changes...

An evaluation of the stock structure of North Sea cod, haddock, and whiting since 1920, together with a consideration of the impacts of fisheries and predation effects on their biomass and recruitment

Time series of population-at-age and fishing mortality rate estimates are extended back to 1921 for North Sea cod, and to 1920 for North Sea haddock and whiting. The extended time series are used to examine the ability of various factors to explain the changes in biomass and recruitment of these roundfish stocks during much of the twentieth century. In particular, the possible...

Changes in North Sea gadoid stocks

Abundance and biomass of the major gadoid species in the North Sea have undergone large changes in the present century. During the gadoid outburst of the 1960s and 1970s, cod, haddock, whiting, and Norway pout produced some of the largest (as well as some of the smallest) year classes on record. Food requirements of the enhanced populations may have been some three to four times...

Status and trends of the major roundfish, flatfish, and pelagic fish stocks in the North Sea: thirty-year overview

Changes in the status of the major roundfish, flatfish, and pelagic stocks in the North Sea over the past 30 years are reviewed. Synopses are presented on trends in catches, fishing mortality, spawning-stock biomass, and recruitment for eight stocks (cod, haddock, whiting, saithe, plaice, sole, herring, and mackerel), together with an evaluation of the current state of these...

Long-term fluctuations in fish recruit abundance in the western Wadden Sea in relation to variation in the marine environment

Fyke catches from the westernmost tidal inlet of the Wadden Sea were analysed for inter-annual variability in recruit numbers of several commercial and non-commercial fish species between 1972 and 1994. Year-to-year variability in recruits ranged between 0.28 and 1.13 standard deviation. Variability was relatively low for species such as turbot, plaice, and sole, which...

Factors affecting the annual abundance and regional distribution of English inshore demersal fish populations: 1973 to 1995

The 2 m beam trawl and 1.5 m push net were used to sample the small epibenthic fish assemblage during September on the east and south coasts of England. Fishing stations were distributed along the entire coast within four depth bands to 20 m. A total of 104 species were caught between 1973 and 1995, and these included infrequent Lusitanean species such as the big-scale sand-smelt...

Long-term changes in ray populations in the North Sea

Three data sets have been analysed: landing statistics (1903–1993), International Bottom Trawl Surveys (1979–1993), and survey data collected in Dutch coastal waters between 1951 and 1994. Landings of rays and skates have decreased by more than half compared with the post-war level. Starry ray has increased in abundance in the central North Sea between 1970 and 1993. Thornback...

Time-series data for a selection of forty fish species caught during the International Bottom Trawl Survey

Relative abundance estimates of 40 fish species caught during the ICES coordinated International Bottom Trawl Survey are presented for the period 1970–1993. Trends in survey catches for eight commercial species are compared with total stock biomass estimates derived from stock assessment. In general, there is a remarkably good correspondence between these two independent...

Long-term trends in ten non-target North Sea fish species

Catch data on 10 non-target fish species from the International Bottom Trawl Survey during the years 1970–1993 are analysed for changes in distribution and abundance by size class. Trends in catch rates of spurdog, starry ray, bib, poor cod, four-bearded rockling, grey gurnard, bullrout, long rough dab, dab, and lemon sole have been compared using correlation and cluster analysis...

The physical impact of marine aggregate extraction in the North Sea

The marine aggregate extraction industry in the North Sea is well established and growing. The article reviews the potential physical impact of sand and gravel extraction. The impact is site-specific and depends on numerous factors, including extraction method, sediment type and mobility, bottom topography, and bottom current strength.

Quantitative assessment of the development of the offshore oil and gas industry in the North Sea

An overview is given of the development of the offshore oil and gas industry in the North Sea and the possible physical impact on the ecosystem in the short and long term. The order of magnitude of several activities (seismic exploration, drilling, platforms, pipelines, subsea facilities, and gas flaring) has been estimated on the basis of information from national authorities...

Malformations in North Sea pelagic fish embryos during the period 1984–1995

Malformation rates in embryos of dab, whiting, cod, flounder, and plaice in the southern North Sea have been monitored between 1984 and 1995 by quantitative investigations of developmental defects in eggs immediately after capture. Incidences were highest in near-coastal waters known to receive high pollution loads. For all species and all areas investigated, synchronous trends...

The anchovy returns to the Wadden Sea

When the traditional spawning grounds of anchovy in the former Zuiderzee disappeared as a consequence of the construction of a dam in 1932, a directed fishery for anchovies continued in the adjacent part of the Wadden Sea until 1962. Subsequently, there has been no commercial fishery and anchovies have only been caught incidentally in the area. In recent years, the stock shows...

Can changes in the fisheries yield in the Kattegat (1950–1992) be linked to changes in primary production?

The increase in fisheries yield in the Kattegat during the last four decades can be correlated with a concomitant increase in annual primary production in the region. However, this correlation does not necessarily indicate cause and effect. Other changes have occurred during this period that may also affect fisheries yield (changes in fishing effort, market demand, fleet...

Variability and stability in benthos: twenty-two years of monitoring off Northumberland

The macrobenthic fauna at a station 5.5 nautical miles off the Northumberland coast has been monitored since 1972. During the period 1972 to 1981 the fauna exhibited regular cycles of low abundance in spring followed by high abundance the following autumn, suggesting a system regulated by density-dependent processes. In 1982, this pattern broke down and the system continued to...

Far-field control of long-term changes in Northumberland (NW North Sea) coastal zooplankton

Zooplankton at a station 5.5 nautical miles off the Northumberland coast has been monitored monthly since 1968. Multivariate statistics distinguish two groups in the samples, with a change in community structure around 1979. These groups are not the result of dramatic changes in the occurrence of key species, but reflect small changes in abundance of many species. This study...

The geographic scale of synchronized fluctuation patterns in zoobenthos populations as a key to underlying factors: climatic or man-induced

Densities of zoobenthic species observed at different locations tend to fluctuate in parallel even when these sites are far apart. Climatic factors can synchronize population changes over wide geographic areas if they have a direct effect on recruitment or mortality. Several examples indicate that severe winters represent a major synchronizing factor among many of the zoobenthos...

Variations in benthos in the north-western North Sea in relation to the inflow of Atlantic Water, 1980–1984

During the years 1980–1984, samples were collected from five stations across the Fair Isle inflow into the northern North Sea to study the possible effects of the hydro-dynamic environment on benthos. No patterns or trends were observed which might correlate with changes in inflow. However, inflow during these years appears to have been fairly stable. It is postulated that not...

A method for estimating primary production from chlorophyll concentrations with results showing trends in the Irish Sea and the Dutch coastal zone

Analyses of long-term trends in physical, chemical, and biological parameters at selected locations along the residual current represent one of the objectives of the North-West European Shelf Programme (NOWESP). Within this framework, trends in chlorophyll concentrations at two of these localities, the Irish Sea and the Dutch coastal zone, were analysed. The results show an...

The North-West European Shelf Programme (NOWESP): integrated analysis of shelf processes based on existing data sets and models

An overview is presented of the North-West European Shelf Programme, including objectives, aspects of database management, time-series analysis, and analysis of spatial distribution of various parameters. Examples of some results are given.