Dossier

Understanding fish stock developments – scientific basis for sustainable use

Christoph Stransky, Uwe Krumme, Jörn Scharsack

SF Institute of Sea Fisheries

OF Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries FI Institute of Fishery Ecology

To sustainably use marine fish stocks, we have to know the present stock status and need to predict stock development in the near future. We use our long-term monitoring programmes to provide the essential scientific basis for a sustainable exploitation of our fisheries resources.

We run extensive monitoring programmes at sea using research vessels and analysing catches from German commercial fishing vessels, while all countries sharing the same resource also collect data from their vessels and catches. Thus, we produce unique time series on the development of the fish stocks in the Baltic, North Sea and North Atlantic. The data are stored in large data bases and are used to feed the fish stock assessments of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and other international scientific organisations.

Together with our international partners, we use these data to develop recommendations for the sustainable management of living marine resources that are shared across nations and managed jointly, primarily by setting total allowable catches (TACs) for those stocks.

Expertise

ICES advice on fishing opportunities: What's behind it?

In its annual advice, ICES provides an overview of the status of exploited fish stocks in the northeast Atlantic and publishes recommendations for future sustainable fishing opportunities. We explain what the advice means for German fisheries and why recommendations are at a certain level.

Comment

Overfishing - simple word with complicated contend

Overfishing: Dr. Gerd Kraus and Dr. Alexander Kampf, Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries, about a frequently used term with several possibilities of interpretation

Podcast

Episode 14: Can the eel still be saved?

The European eel is acutely threatened. Fishing is one of the reasons for this. While scientists have been calling for a complete ban on fishing for years as well as for the improvement of water quality and fish passage, politicians are struggling with it. What is the reason for this? And could the eel still be saved at all?

Thünen explains

Herring Trapped in Climate Change

The herring stock in the Western Baltic Sea has been producing fewer and fewer offspring for years. In our multimedia feature we explain how climate change impacts herring productivity and what we did over the last 15 years to discover this.

Dispute

Can the Western Baltic cod still be saved?

In a study, researchers from Hamburg, Kiel and Jena conclude that the cod of the western Baltic Sea has passed a tipping point due to overfishing and deteriorating environmental conditions. This would mean that the stock would no longer recover.

Does the Western Baltic need different management?

Fish stocks and harbour porpoise populations in the western Baltic Sea could recover and stabilise by 2050 if ecosystem-based fisheries management is introduced. How suitable is the proposed approach?

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