Publication Abstract

Atlas of the North Sea fishes, based on bottom-trawl survey data for the years 1985-1987

R.J. Knijn, T.W. Boon, H.J.L. Heessen and J.R.G. Hislop

The information used by fishery biologists for the assessment of commercial fish stocks originates both from the fishing industry itself (catch and effort data) and from surveys carried out with research vessels. Over the last two decades these surveys have become an integral part of routine fish stock assessment, and the survey data, which are obtained independently of the commercial fisheries, have become increasingly important in recent years, owing to a general deterioration in the quality of catch statistics.

At present, a great many surveys are conducted in the North Sea, mostly under the supervision of the Inter-national Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the world's oldest intergovernmental organization con-cerned with marine and fishery science. Typically, survey data are routinely analysed to provide data on distribution, abundance, maturity, etc. for only a small group of com-mercially exploited fish species. The general procedure during a survey, however, is to sample at least the size distribution of all species in the catches. This has resulted in the accumulation of a large body of data which, for the most part, lie neglected in various databases. Few published data on the distribution of North Sea fishes are available; these are mainly on commercial species and, quite often, only refer to part of the North Sea (e.g. 1,2,3]. It is apparent, however, that the enormous amount of information collected during surveys is of value and may be of considerable interest not only to fisheries scientists, but also to a wider public.

Reference:

R.J. Knijn, T.W. Boon, H.J.L. Heessen and J.R.G. Hislop, 1993. Atlas of the North Sea fishes, based on bottom-trawl survey data for the years 1985-1987. ICES Co-operative Research Report, 194: 268pp.