BENTHIS
Benthic Ecosystem Fisheries Impact Study
The sea bed provides a place to live for a wide diversity of plants and animals. Fisheries
negatively impact these benthic ecosystems, for instance by reducing biodiversity, sea
bed integrity, food for bottom dwelling fish and fisheries yield. BENTHIS will provide the
science base to assess the impact of current fishing practices and, in collaboration with the
industry, develop innovative fishing technology and management scenarios to mitigate the
adverse impacts. In this respect it also contributes to the objective of the Marine Strategy
Framework Directive (MSFD) to achieve a Good Environmental Status of marine EU waters
by 2020, especially regarding biological diversity and seafloor integrity. |
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To support an integrated approach to the management
of human activities in the marine
environment, in particular fishing, as required
in the Common Fisheries Policy and the Marine
Strategy Framework Directive, there is a need to
develop quantitative tools to assess the impact
of fisheries on the benthic ecosystem. BENTHIS
will provide this knowledge. It will study the
vulnerability of different benthic ecosystems
in European waters and analyse the physical
impact of the current fishing practices on benthic
organisms and geo-chemical processes. | In collaboration with the fishing industry, options
to mitigate the adverse impact will be reviewed
and sea trials will be conducted to study the
performance of technological innovations in
the five major European seas (Baltic, North
Sea, Western waters, Mediterranean and Black
Sea). Fisheries studied comprise flatfish and
shrimp fisheries with beam trawls, nephrops
and roundfish fisheries with otter trawls, and
shellfish fisheries with dredges. Finally, new
management approaches will be developed in
direct collaboration with the fishing industry and |
other stakeholders and tested on their effects
on the ecosystem and the socio-economic consequences.
BENTHIS will inform managers about
the benthic habitats that are impacted the most
and about the fishing gears that have the biggest
effects and provide information on options
to mitigate the adverse impacts. |
The project follows a multi-disciplinary approach
with strong stakeholder involvement. Sea trials
will be conducted with innovative fishing gears
such as pelagic otter boards and pulse trawls.
Generic tools will be developed to assess the
impact of fishing gears based on the physical
characteristics of the gear and the morphological
and life history characteristics of the benthic
organisms. Bio-economic models will be
developed to quantify the effect of mitigation
measures on the socio-economy of the fishing
sector. The models will allow an integrated
assessment of both the ecology and the socioeconomic
consequences. |
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