Essential fish habitats and fisheries pressures in the Danish EEZ for ecosystem-based fisheries management

EFISH aims to create digital maps of fish distributions that document the impact of fishing on essential fish habitats and vulnerable species. This digital tool will be designed for national managers to facilitate the transition to ecosystem-based fisheries management. It will help identify areas in need of special protection and evaluate the ecosystem and biodiversity benefits of implementing additional fishing restrictions. The tool will be created in dialogue with stakeholders.

A digital library of maps of essential fish habitats (mainly spawning and nursery areas) for common commercial species will be established. For vulnerable species, the focus will be on mapping important areas where they occur. The distribution maps will be compared with indicators of seabed impact from fishing. A literature review on fish habitat distribution and fisheries impacts will provide the necessary background to understand and apply the map layers.

Data sources will include international trawl surveys, fish egg and larval samples, oceanographic data, sediment maps, fisheries data and the Fish Atlas from University of Copenhagen. These data will be combined using advanced statistical models and hydrodynamic modelling. The project will build on existing knowledge and efforts in mapping fish distributions and essential habitats in the Danish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and will integrate different disciplines, data, methods and expertise from DTU.

Funding
The projects is funded by the research programme "Green transition of fisheries and aquaculture" administered by the Danish Agricultural and Fisheries Agency. 

Research area: Ecosystem based Marine Management

Research area: Fisheries Management

Research area: Marine Living Resources

Research area: Fish Biology