2004 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA5 Technical Report - Shellfish and fisheries (Northern North Sea)
This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA5) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). The SEA5 review differs from previous assessments in that the zone includes a large coastal fringe, along the whole east coast of Scotland and the Northern Isles, and contains a diverse range of habitats, from inter-tidal rocky shores and sandy beaches, to the shallow sub-littoral and deepwater mud basins offshore. These habitats support a wide range of invertebrate resources, of which six species of crustacean, four species of bivalve mollusc and two species of gastropod mollusc form the basis of a thriving shellfish fishing industry in Scotland. The landings are dominated by the Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus which occurs in four main areas, one of which, the Fladen ground, is in close proximity to mature oil fields. The fishery for this species in the North Sea is likely to increase, with diversion of effort from the demersal fisheries for cod and other whitefish. Much of this expansion should take place at Fladen where the stock is at present under-exploited. It is likely, however, that trawl gear used in the Norway lobster (and pink shrimp) fisheries will be required to be more selective in order to reduce the by-catch of demersal fish, especially cod, and the wastage through discarding of under-sized fish. Relevant aspects of the biology of each species are described, including habitat preference, distribution, feeding, life-cycle, reproduction and spawning. Details are given about the fishing methods used, assessments of the state of stocks, and the management regime and legislation currently used to control each fishery.
dataset
http://www.bgs.ac.uk/data/sea/home.html
name: Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal
description: 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.
function: download
BGS_SEA_67
British Geological Survey
eng
OGP
urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326
http://www.offshore-sea.org.uk/site/index.php
biota
environment
oceans
utilitiesCommunication
revision
2011-03-25
Species distribution
publication
2008-06-01
publication
2008-06-01
-4
1
61.5
55.8
revision
2006-01-01
2004-01-01
2004-01-01
publication
2004-01-01
notPlanned
Report prepared by Colin A Chapman as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme. Fishery landings data were available from yearly additions of Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics and from the Aberdeen Marine Laboratory fishery statistics database. The latter information is stored with reference to ICES statistical rectangle codes. Each rectangle covers an area of seabed of approximately 30 square nautical miles. The grid of ICES statistical rectangles does not match precisely with the boundaries of the SEA5 zone, requiring a degree of compromise in selecting the most appropriate fishery data. Account was also taken of the fact that when the SEA5 boundaries were originally established, several inshore areas were excluded from oil and gas
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.
British Geological Survey (BGS)
Murchison House, West Mains Road
Edinburgh
EH9 3LA
UK
+44 (0)131 667 1000
custodian
Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
Admiralty Way
London
SW1A 2HD
UK
+44 0300 060 4000
+44 (0) 1823 284077
originator
British Geological Survey (BGS)
+44 (0)131 667 1000
+44 (0)131 668 4140
pointOfContact
2011-08-30