The second survey of three in a series of FSP surveys of cod in the Bristol
Channel and Celtic Sea. The first two surveys took place in spring 2004 and
2005 on FV Our Josie Grace, a commercial trawler based in Ilfracombe.
Programme 7 in 2006 used the same vessel for 20 days between 5 February and 17
March. Tows were carried out in and close to the three ICES rectangles closed
to fishing in spring, and in the Bristol Channel, using twin-rig and
single-rig nets with 85mm codends. The objectives of the 2006 FSP survey were
to investigate the potential of the western cod FSP survey for providing
time-series data on abundance and population structure of cod, and to examine
the distribution of a range of species in and near the closed rectangles.
