Hamon, K.G.

Oostenbrugge, J.A.E., van

Name not available

Fishing activities on the Frisian Front and the Cleaver Bank. Supplement to LEI Memorandum 13-050

Wageningen Yield 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
Introduction 
In response to a request from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, an update of the data and analyses on the fishing 
activities of the Dutch fishing fleet on Frisian Front and the Cleaver Bank for the years 2012 and 2013 has been made. 
In this update the same data sources and methods have been used as in the memorandum that was published 
previously (Hamon et al., 2013). 
 
Results 
 
Table 1 shows the developments in the total landings, landings value and contribution to the Gross Value Added 
(GVA)1 of the Dutch fishing fleet on the Frisian Front and the Cleaver Bank.  
 
Table 1 Overview of landings and values of the Dutch fishing sector in the Frisian Front and the 
Cleaver Bank 
 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 
Landings (tons)   
Frisian Front 1,326 1,231 1,001 1,228 1,273 1,091 1,717 977 
Cleaver Bank 335  589  434  849  943  1,157 1,675 586 
Value (1000 euros)   
Frisian Front 4,993 5,199 4,036 4,305 4,183 3,204 3,465 3,413 
Cleaver Bank 1,098   1,944  1,477  2,325  2,642  3,002  3,083 1,534 
Gross Value Added (1000 euros)  
Frisian Front 1,375 1,656 1,227 1,661 1,142 520 1,294 1,262a) 
Cleaver Bank 310  755  545  899  982  927 1,048 591a) 
 a) preliminary estimates; 
Source: Logbook data and VMS data, processed by LEI.  
 
The fishing intensity in the Frisian Front has been more or less stable from 2008 onwards, whereas the fishing 
intensity on the Cleaver Bank increased until 2012 and decreased substantially in 2013. These trends are further 
elaborated for each of the separate areas in the following sections. 
  
                                                 
1 The results up to 2010 are comparable to those of the previous memorandum. For 2011, the contribution to the GVA was updated using the actual economic data, 
whereas the results for 2013 are preliminary estimates, based on the proportion of GVA and landings value in 2012. 
Fishing activities on the Frisian 
Front and the Cleaver Bank 
 
Supplement to LEI Memorandum 13-050 
 
J.A.E. van Oostenbrugge and K. Hamon 
  
2 | LEI Wageningen UR 
Frisian Front 
Fishing intensity has remained relatively stable on the Frisian Front during the last six years (Figure 1). Landings 
decreased slightly from around 1,200 tonnes in 2006 and 2007 to less than 1,000 tonnes in the last years. In 2011 
and 2012 considerable landings of pelagic fish were estimated, but these landings are based on a small number of 
observations and therefore highly uncertain. The resulting value of landings also decreased, from €5m to around 
€3.5m and the GVA varied between €1m and €1.5m, with the exception of 2011, when the GVA was very low because 
of relative high costs. The main change in the exploitation pattern has been a shift from a fishery dominated by beam 
trawling to more demersal trawling, especially from 2010 to 2011. After 2011, both the landings, landings value and 
GVA of beam trawls increased again whereas those from the demersal trawl fishery remained stable or decreased.   
 
Figure 1 Historical trends of the fishing activities in the Frisian Front by the Dutch fleet. Effort, landings, 
value of landings and GVA are given by gears aggregated at the level of European codes (see 
Appendix 4 of Memorandum 13-050)  
 
 
Source: Logbook data and VMS data, processed by LEI. 
  
Effort (fishing days)
Landings (tonnes)
Value (million euros)
GVA (million euros)
0
200
400
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1500
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YEAR
Gear
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Demersal trawlers or seiners
Pelagic trawlers
Nets
Others
  
3 | LEI Wageningen UR 
Within the beam-trawl fishery, the pulse fishing (TBP) increased substantially in 2012 from 0 to more than 100 fishing 
days (Figure 2). Although the landings were lower than those from the traditional beam trawlers (TBB), both the 
landings value and the GVA of the pulse fishery were higher. This is because the pulse-trawl fishery targets the more 
expensive sole, whereas the traditional beam trawl catches more plaice. After 2011 total landings from the beam-
trawl fleet (including pulse) increased with around 30% and the total value of fish landed by all beam trawlers was 
around €2m in 2013. GVA was stable for the last two years at around €0.5m.  
 
 
Figure 2 Historical trends of the fishing activities in the Frisian Front by the 
Dutch beam trawlers. Effort, landings, value of landings and GVA are 
given by gears aggregated at the level of European codes (see 
Appendix 4 of Memorandum 13-050)  
 
 
Source: Logbook data and VMS data, processed by LEI. 
Effort (fishing days)
Landings (tonnes)
Value (million euros)
GVA (million euros)
0
100
200
300
0
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600
900
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year
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TBB
TBP
TBS
  
4 | LEI Wageningen UR 
Within the demersal trawl fleet the twin trawl fishery (OTT) dominated the fishery on the Frisian Front from 2011 
onwards, and the fishing intensity of the otter trawl (OTB) fishery decreased. This decrease might be even larger than 
shown here as there are indications that some of the effort reported as otter trawl was in fact carried out by twin 
trawl. The total value of the landings was around €1.3m for 2012 and 2013 and the GVA was about €0.7m.  
 
Figure 3 Historical trends of the fishing activities in the Frisian Front by the 
Dutch demersal trawlers. Effort, landings, value of landings and GVA 
are given by gears aggregated at the level of European codes (see 
Appendix 4 of Memorandum 13-050)  
 
 
Source: Logbook data and VMS data, processed by LEI. 
 
  
Effort (fishing days)
Landings (tonnes)
Value (million euros)
GVA (million euros)
0
50
100
150
200
0
100
200
300
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
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year
Gear
OTB
OTT
PTB
SDN
SSC
  
5 | LEI Wageningen UR 
Cleaver Bank 
The fishing intensity on the Cleaver Bank increased in the years until 2012 (Figure 4), resulting in total landings of 
more than 1,200 tonnes and a landings value of around €3m, for the demersal fishing gears. However, in 2013 the 
level of fishing activities dropped by around 50%; landings were 600 tonnes and represented a value of €1.5m. The 
landings of the pelagic fishery (in 2012) are highly uncertain since the number of observations on which the estimate 
is based is low. The sharp decline in 2013 is comparable for all gear types and the reason is not obvious as the 
landings per fishing day were comparable with 2012.  
The importance of the beam-trawl fisheries on the Cleaver Bank has increased, but the fishing effort was still 
dominated by the demersal trawl fishing. 
 
Figure 4 Historical trends of the fishing activities in the Cleaver Bank by the 
Dutch fleet. Effort, landings, value of landings and GVA are given by 
gears aggregated at the level of European codes (see Appendix 4 
of Memorandum 13-050)  
 
Source: Logbook data and VMS data, processed by LEI. 
 
  
Effort (fishing days)
Landings (tonnes)
Value (million euros)
GVA (million euros)
0
100
200
300
0
500
1000
1500
0
1
2
3
0.00
0.25
0.50
0.75
1.00
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Gear
Beam trawlers
Demersal trawlers or seiners
Pelagic trawlers
Nets
Others
  
6 | LEI Wageningen UR 
Over the last years the traditional beam trawl (TBB) on the Cleaver Bank has almost completely been replaced by 
pulse fishing (TBP) (Figure 5). In 4 years’ time after its introduction in this area (2010), more than two thirds of the 
value of landings originated from pulse trawling and the contribution to the GVA was even higher. 
 
Figure 5 Historical trends of the fishing activities in the Cleaver Bank by the 
Dutch beam trawlers. Effort, landings, value of landings and GVA are 
given by gears aggregated at the level of European codes (see 
Appendix 4 of Memorandum 13-050)  
 
 
Source: Logbook data and VMS data, processed by LEI. 
 
  
Effort (fishing days)
Landings (tonnes)
Value (million euros)
GVA (million euros)
0
25
50
75
100
125
0
200
400
600
0.0
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1.0
1.5
0.0
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year
Gear
TBB
TBP
  
7 | LEI Wageningen UR 
Fishing activities with demersal trawls decreasing since 2010 (Figure 6); effort dropped by more than 60% and 
landings almost halved. GVA fluctuated considerably (between €0.2m and €0.7m), but does not show a clear trend.  
Within the demersal trawls, the twin trawl (OTT) dominated the fisheries in the latest years. In 2012 more than 50% 
of the effort was carried out by these gears. Besides otter board trawls (OTB), also Scottish seines (SSC) were used 
regularly in this area. Especially from 2010 to 2012, the landings of these seines were considerable, representing a 
total value of around €0.5m. In 2013 these landings also decreased substantially. 
 
Figure 6 Historical trends of the fishing activities in the Cleaver Bank by the 
Dutch demersal trawlers. Effort, landings, value of landings and GVA 
are given by gears aggregated at the level of European codes (see 
Appendix 4 of Memorandum 13-050)  
 
 
Source: Logbook data and VMS data, processed by LEI. 
 
  
Effort (fishing days)
Landings (tonnes)
Value (million euros)
GVA (million euros)
0
50
100
150
200
0
200
400
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
0.0
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year
Gear
OTB
OTT
PTB
SDN
SSC
  
8 | LEI Wageningen UR 
Effort (fishing days)
Landings (tonnes)
Value (million euros)
GVA (million euros)
0
2
4
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
0.000
0.001
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0.0020
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year
Gear
GN
GNS
GTR
Effects of management 
An analysis of the effects of the management measures such as carried out in Hamon et al. (2013) has not been fully 
conducted. However, a partial analysis has been made and the results and conclusions are presented.  
 
Figure 7 Historical trends of the fishing activities in the Frisian Front by the 
Dutch gillnet fishers. Effort, landings, value of landings and GVA are 
given by gears aggregated at the level of European codes (see 
Appendix 4 of Memorandum 13-050) 
 
 
Source: Logbook data and VMS data, processed by LEI. 
 
 
  
  
9 | LEI Wageningen UR 
For the proposed temporal closure of the Frisian Front for gill netters no additional stress analysis was done. Based on 
previous analysis and the overall trends, it can be concluded that the proposed closure would not have an impact on 
the Dutch gill net fishery, because over the period from 2006 to 2013 fishing very few activities with gill nets have 
been registered at the Frisian Front (Figure 7).  
 
For the Cleaver Bank, the stress profiles as shown in Hamon et al. (2013) have been updated with information from 
2012 and 2013. The level of stress that a possible partial closures of the area for the demersal gears (as defined in 
Hamon et al., 2013) would cause, was measured by the value of landings from the impacted area relative to the total 
value of landings per vessel. The individual stress levels were then aggregated in the profile shown in Figure 8. More 
details about the background of the method can be found in Hamon et al. (2013). The analysis suggests that around 
40 vessels have been active in the selected area per year and that this number has decreased in 2013 to around 25. 
For most of the impacted vessels, less than 10% of the revenue came from the selected area. A very small number of 
vessels obtained more than 10% of their revenue from the area and in 2013 this was only the case for one vessel. 
 
 
Figure 8 Stress profile of the Cleaver Bank closure on bottom contact gearsa) 
by fleetb) 
 
 
a) Bottom contact gears include beam trawl, shrimp trawl, pulse trawl, otter board trawl bottom and pair trawl 
bottom; b) vessels using bottom contact gears at least for one trip during the year and for which Viris and VMS 
data was available; 
Source: Logbook data and VMS data, processed by LEI. 
 
 
 
Conclusions 
The update of the analyses shows some new developments in the fishing patterns in both the Frisian Front and the 
Cleaver Bank. 
For the Frisian Front, the total fishing intensity, the landings volume and landing value remained more or less constant 
from 2010 onwards. Also, the GVA remained more or less stable around €1.2m , with the exception of the year 2011. 
With these landings, the contribution of the fishery in this area to the total value of landings and the GVA of the total 
Dutch demersal fisheries is still relatively high compared to other areas; 1.3% and 1.0% respectively (STECF, 2014). 
During the last years, the fishery has shifted from the traditional beam trawl and otter board trawl to pulse trawl and 
twin trawl. 
For the Cleaver Bank, the addition of recent years’ data resulted in a mixed picture as the fishing intensity suddenly 
decreased in 2013 after a stable increase in the years up to 2012. As such, it is not possible to draw clear conclusions 
on the value of the area for the Dutch fishing sector over the last years. Based on the landings in 2011 and 2012 the 
area would contribute approximately 1.1% to the total Dutch landings value, but based on the 2013 figures, the 
contribution would only be half of that. It is not clear what the reason for the sudden decrease could be. The same 
2006 2007 2008
2009 2010 2011
2012 2013
0
100
200
300
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300
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100
200
300
0
>0
-1
0
>1
0-
20
>2
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40
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>2
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30
>3
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40
% revenue affected by closure
n
u
m
b
e
r 
o
f 
v
e
s
s
e
ls
Fleet
highseas
cutter
  
10 | LEI Wageningen UR 
holds for the effect of the closure: Based on 2013 data the effect would be lower than presented before, but it is not 
clear whether this is a one-year event or represents a structural change. 
It should be noted that the results presented here are no exact numbers but rather estimates based on a complex 
estimation procedure with multiple assumptions. More about the assumptions and the resulting uncertainty in the 
estimates can be found in Oostenbrugge et al. (2010).  
 
 
Literature 
Hamon, K., J.A.E. van Oostenbrugge and H. Bartelings, 2013, Fishing activities on the Frisian Front and the Cleaver 
Bank Historic developments and effects of management. LEI Memorandum 13-050. LEI Wageningen UR, The Hague. 
May 2013. 
Oostenbrugge, J.A.E. van, H. Bartelings and F.C. Buisman, 2010. Verspreidingskaarten voor de Noordzeevisserij; 
Methodiek en toepassing Natura 2000-gebieden (in Dutch). LEI-rapport 2010-066 ISBN/EAN: 978-90-8615-455-5. LEI 
Wageningen UR, The Hague. 2010. 
Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), 2014. The 2014 Annual Economic Report on the 
EU Fishing Fleet (STECF-14-05). Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. Printed in Italy. 
 
 
Contact    
LEI Wageningen UR 
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2502 LS Den Haag 
www.wageningenUR.nl/lei 
Naam 
Functie 
T (070) 000 00 00 
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Naam 
Functie 
T (070) 000 00 00 
E naam@wur.nl 
 
 


Fishing activities on the Frisian Front and the Cleaver Bank. Supplement to LEI Memorandum 13-050

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