aba64100-c11a-4de3-e044-0003ba6f30bd English dataset Mary Mowat British Geological Survey (BGS) +44 (0)131 667 1000 +44 (0)131 668 4140 offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk pointOfContact 2011-08-30 MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard Version 2.3.5 urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326 OGP 2003 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA4 Technical report - Fish and fisheries (north UKCS) 2003-01-01 publication BGS_SEA_36 British Geological Survey This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA4) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). It concerns fish and fisheries of the SEA4 area which covers the area to the west of Shetland and Orkney and most of the UK sector of the Faroe Shetland Channel. Fisheries are very important in the SEA4 area, the mixed demersal fishery for cod, haddock and whiting, the pelagic fisheries for herring and mackerel, and the industrial fishery for sandeel, being the most important. However, there are serious concerns about many fish stocks. This report discusses fish biology, the many different fisheries, trends in fish landings, management efforts to control fishing and achieve sustainable fish stocks, and the interaction between fishing and the oil and gas industry. Relevant aspects of the biology of 28 species or species groups are described. Brief descriptions of the fishery for each species are given, including the method of fishing and long term trends in landings. Statistical information on fish landings available from the International Council for the Exploration of the SEA (ICES) and data for Scottish vessels supplied by Fisheries Research Services are presented. Problems of misreporting and under-reporting are discussed. Paul Henni British Geological Survey (BGS) +44 (0)131 667 1000 Murchison House, West Mains Road Edinburgh EH9 3LA UK offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk custodian Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) +44 0300 060 4000 +44 (0) 1823 284077 Admiralty Way London SW1A 2HD UK enquiries@decc.gsi.gov.uk originator notPlanned Documents NDGO0001 Fish catch statistics Fish abundance in water bodies Fishery characterisation Industrial activity SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2011-03-25 revision Species distribution GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication crust sediment SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2008-06-01 publication The SEAs data were produced as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme; Crown Copyright, all rights reserved. The DECC SEA must be acknowledged in any maps or publications that make use of the data. All the data files are freely available to the public. The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS. BGS (NERC) has been contracted by DECC to publish SEA datasets on its behalf. All intellectual property rights (including , without limitation, copyrights, database rights and all other rights which subsist or may at any time in the future subsist in the Dataset(s)) in the Dataset(s) ('Intellectual Property Rights') are owned by DECC (formerly the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform). BGS has been authorised by DECC to use SEA datasets for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit basis'. BGS has been authorised by DECC to pass on SEA datasets to third parties so that they can use them for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit' basis. intellectualPropertyRights 5 English biota environment oceans society SeaVoX salt and fresh water body gazetteer 2006-01-01 revision North Atlantic Ocean -7 2 58.7 64 2003-01-01 2003-01-01 http://www.offshore-sea.org.uk/site/index.php http://www.bgs.ac.uk/data/sea/home.html Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS. download dataset This report was prepared by Dr John Gordon, Honorary Fellow at the Scottish Association for Marine Science Laboratory as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme. Data from various source were used to compile it, including the Atlas of North Sea Fishes (most of data are from annual surveys of which the International Young Fish Survey and the Scottish Groundfish Survey are most relevant to SEA4), The SEA2 report on North Sea Fish and Fisheries, Fisheries Research Services. Fisheries Research Services (FRS) have been carrying out routine groundfish surveys in Quarter 1 (usually in March) since 1981. The UK Offshore Operators Association Ltd (UKOOA) have published a report entitled Fisheries Sensitivity Maps in British Waters (Coull et al., 1998).