Pelagic species (39698/102139)

The project will collect information and find solutions regarding issues related to small pelagic species and which have been highlighted by the industry and by several working groups under ICES.

The issues are:

Multi-species problem in management area 2 for sand eel. This issue is investigated in WP1) "Separation of Raitt's sand eel and lesser sand eel on the fishing grounds in management area 2 for sand eel", through the following activities:
- Establishing an effective method for separating Raitt's sand eel and lesser sand eel.
- Survey of the sand eel species composition in management area SA2r.
- Advice on a monitoring program to minimize (if necessary) the occurrence of lesser sand eel in the sand eel fisheries.

Uncertainty in the sprat recruitment estimate, the discovery of sardines in the larvae survey as well as localization of sand eel spawning grounds. These issues are investigated in WP2) "Investigations of sand eel and sprat larvae", through the following activities:
- Determination of spawning areas and recruitment sizes for North Sea sprat.
- Mapping of sand eel spawning areas.

Lack of operational methods for splitting the herring stock components. This issue is investigated in WP3) "Integration of improved herring stock identification methods", through the following activities:
- Preparation of technical protocol for genetic split of western Baltic herring.
- Implementation of genetic split in the danish data provided for stock assessments.
- Identification of the spatial and temporal origin and distributions of herring stock components.
- Implications for the development of reconstruction plans for western Baltic herring based on obtained knowledge.
- Organization of ICES workshop on stock structure and split methods in herring.

Lack of regional coordination of the collection of biological samples from the fisheries. This issue is investigated in WP4) "Data collection from regional catches from the industry", through the following activities:
- Selection and training of fishermen and purchasers to collect biological sample from their fisheries, in collaborated with DPPO and local handling sites. In addition, further development of the cooperation as well as adapting the information to be provided by the fishermen.
- Reprocessing of the samples collected from the fishery and evaluation of the various sub-components of the stock, which is part of the fishery.
- Reporting the extended sprat / herring biology data set to the stock assessment working group.

Managing ongoing tasks related to the sand eel benchmark in 2021, as well as support during the identification of a sprat management strategy. This task is managed during WP5) "Cooperation with the industry", through the following activities:
- Dialogue with the industry through a series of stakeholder meetings.

Funding
The project is financed by European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and the Danish Fisheries Agency.

Research area: Ecosystem based Marine Management
Research area: Marine Living Resources
Research area: Marine Populations and Ecosystem Dynamics
Research area: Population Genetics
Research area: Fish Biology