Skip to main content
Publications | Persons | Institutes | Projects
[ report an error in this record ]basket (0): add | show Print this page

A temporal race-for-fish: The interplay between local hotspots of flatfish and exploitation competition between beam trawlers after a seasonal spawning closure
Sys, K.; Van Meensel, J.; Polet, H.; Buysse, J. (2017). A temporal race-for-fish: The interplay between local hotspots of flatfish and exploitation competition between beam trawlers after a seasonal spawning closure. Fish. Res. 193: 21-32. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2017.03.018
In: Fisheries Research. Elsevier: Amsterdam. ISSN 0165-7836; e-ISSN 1872-6763, more
Peer reviewed article  

Available in  Authors 

Keyword
    Marine/Coastal
Author keywords
    Fleet dynamics; Beam trawling; Catch per unit effort; Fishery closure

Authors  Top 

Abstract
    In this paper we examine the response of the Belgian beam trawl fishery after the implementation of a spawning closure in the Celtic Sea. It was observed that fishing effort was mainly reallocated in time, resulting in a short-term "race for fish" immediately after re-opening of the fishery. The rationale of this behavior was examined by analyzing the landing rate of the target species (sole) in a generalized additive mixed model. Results showed that daily sole landings were up to twice as high just after re-opening of the fishery and dropped within 3 weeks to a reference level. This pattern of landing rate per unit (lpue) of sole was strongly related to the spatial distribution of fishing effort in the closed area during the month of re-opening. During the first week, fishing effort was very patchy, with increasing dispersal toward the end of the month. These results give indirect evidence for the occurrence of high local concentration of sole as a result of the closure, and the occurrence of exploitation competition when the fishery restarted.

All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy Top | Authors