Spatially-explicit model of sole larvae in the Southern North Sea: sensitivity of the dispersal to hydrodynamic/environment variability and biological parameters
Sole (Solea solea) is one of the most valuable commercial species in the North Sea. The size of the spawning stock is above the level of sustainable exploitation, but fishing mortality is high. The stock is therefore at risk of being harvested unsustainably. Moreover, interannual recruitment variability is very high. It is crucial to understand the contribution of hydrodynamics, environment and biological parameters to recruitment variability in order to propose appropriate measures for the management of the North Sea stock. Here we use a particle-tracking transport model coupled to a 3D hydrodynamic model to study the relative effect of hydrodynamic variability, environment variability (throughout temperature) and biological parameters on the dispersal of sole larvae in the Southern North Sea
