At the same time fisheries affect the food web at several trophic levels, which potentially can affect the productivity and biodiversity of the ecosystem.
The ecosystem-based approach is the cornerstone in the management of the common EU fishery policy and aims to balance these interests and avoid negative ecosystem feedback of fisheries. Nevertheless, the record of collapsed fisheries and ecosystems classified below good ecological status in EU waters is long.
This interdisciplinary IMP-FISH project adopts an ecosystem perspective on fishery impacts, focusing on the entire ecosystems of the two Nordic Seas, the Kattegat and the Skagerrak. These sea areas are also among the most well-monitored seas in the world with long and coherent data series covering all trophic levels. The project analyzes fisheries’ impacts, including direct effects on the biodiversity and food web structure. It also examines indirect effects, such as long-term biodiversity changes due to habitat degradation, disruptions to recruitment from larval drift, and food depletion from physical disturbance and food web alteration.
The project is divided into five work packages (WPs). WP1 gathers and compiles fisheries data from the satellite-based vessel monitoring systems and matches them with corresponding biodiversity and monitoring data to establish the direct relationship between variables describing fishing pressure and the state of the ecosystem. WP2 analyzes indirect relationships and processes behind fishery impacts on the ecosystem, including experimental studies of food web structure. WP3 gathers data from all trophic levels and analyzes the role of fishery as a driver of trophic changes by applying a food web model to the two ecosystems. The question of mitigation of some of the most severe fisheries effects will be modeled and analyzed in different fishery scenarios in WP4 with emphasis on closed areas as well as alternative gear types.
Finally, WP 5 coordinates reporting of the project result in scientific papers and the information flow to the public and stakeholders. IMP-FISH will provide knowledge on the effect of fisheries on the ecosystems and recommendations about the optimal design of spatial and temporal fisheries closures and ecosystem-based advice about fishing intensity and gear selectivity that support the health and functioning of the entire ecosystem
