Distribution and damage to the by-catch assemblages of the northern Irish Sea scallop dredge fisheries

The major by-catch species retained during twice yearly dredge surveys of great scallop, Pecten maximus, and queen scallop, Aequipecten opercularis, (both Mollusca: Pectinidae) populations on 13 fishing grounds in the northern Irish Sea, over a period of five years, were identified and enumerated. Additionally, the damage sustained by the by-catch was assessed and related to a range of physical parameters recorded during the survey. A number of species captured in the spring-toothed dredges exhibited differences in abundance and damage sustained between years, and also between the start and end of the closed season for great scallop fishing (1 June–31 October). The by-catch assemblage varied geographically, dependent upon the underlying community structure, as well as putative factors including gear efficiency and substratum type. Two clear assemblage types were identified by multivariate analysis, one to the south-west of the Isle of Man, the other covering fishing grounds to the north, east and south of the island. There is a hierarchy of species sensitivity to damage in great and queen scallop dredges, probably related to morphological and behavioural characteristics. This selective mortality of a fraction of the community may have long-term implications at the ecosystem level. The degree of damage sustained by many species is related to both the volume of stones retained in the dredge, and the total volume of the catch (dredge fullness). If these were reduced, the overall magnitude of incidental by-catch mortality would be lower

Effects of long-term physical disturbance by commercial scallop fishing on subtidal epifaunal assemblages and habitats

This paper examines spatial differences in the distribution of by-catch assemblages from the scallop [Pecten maximus (L.) and Aequipecten opercularis (L.)] fishing grounds in the North Irish Sea, during 1995. The sites examined have been exposed to differing known levels of fishing disturbance by scallop dredging, based on unusually high-resolution data extracted from fishermens' logbooks. Uni- and multi-variate techniques have been used on a production dataset (a value which incorporates both abundance and biomass figures), as well as abundance and biomass data individually. The original species list was reduced to higher taxonomic groupings in line with the theory that the latter is more appropriate for detecting anthropogenic change. Species diversity and richness, total number of species, and total number of individuals all decrease significantly with increasing fishing effort. Species dominance increases with effort. Total abundance, biomass and production, and the production of most of the major individual taxa investigated decrease significantly with increasing effort. Multivariate analysis reveals a significant relationship between fishing effort and by-catch assemblage structure. The taxa most responsible for the differences are the echinoids and cnidarians, but prosobranch molluscs and crustaceans also contribute to the differences. By-catch assemblage structure is more closely related to fishing effort than any other environmental parameter investigated, including depth and sediment type. We observed an approximately linear decrease in diversity with increasing fishing disturbance, and suggest this is primarily due to selective removal of sensitive species and, more importantly, habitat homogenisation. These results were interpreted in the light of ecological theories relating disturbance to community structure. The argument that invertebrate scavenger populations benefit from prolonged exposure to fishing disturbance was also examined, but no supporting evidence was found

Benthic disturbance by fishing gear in the Irish Sea: a comparison of beam trawling and scallop dredging

1.?The distribution of effort for the most frequently used mobile demersal gears in the Irish Sea was examined and their potential to disturb different benthic communities calculated. Fishing effort data, expressed as the number of days fished, was collated for all fleets operating in the Irish Sea in 1994. For each gear, the percentage of the seabed swept by those parts of the gear that penetrate the seabed was calculated. 2.? For all gears, the majority of fishing effort was concentrated in the northern Irish Sea. Effort was concentrated in three main locations: on the muddy sediments between Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man (otter and Nephrops trawling); off the north Wales, Lancashire and Cumbrian coast (beam trawling); the area surrounding the Isle of Man (scallop dredging). 3.?In some areas, e.g. between Anglesey and the Isle of Man, the use of scallop dredges and beam trawls was coincident. A comparative experimental study revealed that scallop dredges caught much less by-catch than beam trawls. Multivariate analysis revealed that both gears modified the benthic community in a similar manner, causing a reduction in the abundance of most epifaunal species. 4.? Although beam trawling disturbed the greatest area of seabed in 1994, the majority of effort occurred on grounds which supported communities that are exposed to high levels of natural disturbance. Scallop dredging, Nephrops and otter trawling were concentrated in areas that either have long-lived or poorly studied communities. The latter highlights the need for more detailed knowledge of the distribution of sublittoral communities that are vulnerable to fishing disturbance