Duration: 25 August to 11 September 2025

Area: Central North Sea, English Channel and Irish Sea

Purpose: International Beam Trawl Survey

The International Beam Trawl Survey of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) takes place once a year with the participation of the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Germany and covers the Irish Sea, the English Channel and the central North Sea. The range of species recorded differs considerably in some cases from those caught with otter trawls, so that this series complements the surveys with other bottom trawls. In particular, smaller flatfish are recorded well, but also smaller bottom-dwelling round fish (such as leyfish and stone pickerel) and larger invertebrates (such as sea urchins, whelks and starfish). Flatfish and the entire near-bottom fauna have become a focus of interest due to the potential damage caused by intensive beam trawling.

The results are fed into a joint database and published annually in the form of distribution maps and density indices for the most common species.

At the request of the ICES Working Group on the Assessment of Demersal Fish Stocks in the North Sea and Skagerrak (WGNSSK), the survey will be permanently extended to include rectangles 43F8 and 43F9 in order to obtain information on plaice offspring in Jammer Bay. Depending on the remaining shipping time, the projected FFH area "Doggerbank" (FFH = Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive) will be sampled as far as possible this year with regard to its fish fauna. Due to the exclusion of bottom-contact fishing in Natura 2000 areas, the "Borkum-Riffgrund" and "Sylter Außenriff" areas will no longer be fished in future.

Cruise report (PDF, german)