ALBERT

Description: Der Dorschbestand in der westlichen Ostsee befindet sich seit Jahren außerhalb sicherer biologischer Grenzen. Diese Situation hat sich jetzt weiter verschlechtert, so dass im Jahr 2016 die Anzahl der einjährigen Jungdorsche nur 3.5% des durchschnittlichen Nachwuchses betrug. Der Internationale Rat für Meeresforschung (ICES) hat deshalb eine drastische Reduzierung der kommerziellen Fänge im Jahr 2017 angeraten. Leider ist die Politik dieser Empfehlung nicht gefolgt und es sind etwa doppelt so hohe Fänge erlaubt worden. In Deutschland beschlossene finanzielle Hilfsmittel für die Fischer tragen ebenfalls nicht zur Verringerung dieser Fänge bei. Die wenigen einjährigen Dorsche von 2016 werden daher in 2017 stark befischt, bevor sie im Jahr 2018 den Elternbestand stellen. Es ist zu befürchten, dass der Nachwuchs von diesem viel zu kleinen Elternbestand ganz ausbleibt und der westliche Dorschbestand im Jahr 2019 zusammenbricht, mit den entsprechenden drastischen Folgen für Berufs- und Angelfischerei. Um den Fortbestand des westlichen Dorsches zu sichern, schlagen wir vor, die Fischerei und Angelei auf Dorsch in der westlichen Ostsee für zwei Jahre einzustellen, mit Ausgleichszahlungen für Berufsfischer und Angelkutter.

Description: This study examines the status and exploitation level of 31 northern European stocks targeted by fisheries certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) as being sustainable and well managed. In the first year of certification, 11 stocks (52% of stocks with available data) were exploited above the maximum sustainable level and four stocks (16% of stocks with available data) were outside of safe biological limits. MSC states that it certifies sub-standard stocks because they will improve once they are in their program. However, after a duration of certification of one to ten years (average four years), no significant changes in fishing pressure or stock size were detected. In the last certified year with available data, seven stocks (44% of stocks with available data) were subject to overfishing and five stocks (21% of stocks with available data) were outside of safe biological limits. Certification should guarantee that fishing quotas are set correctly and are enforced. However, in 11 stocks quotas were set 20–60% above the level that fishers were taking, whereas in three stocks landings exceeded quotas by 30–50%. The study concludes that MSC should change its rules such that overfishing or unsafe stock sizes lead to immediate suspension of certification and that no certification is issued in the first place for a stock that is already in such a situation.

Description: Human exploitation and use of marine and coastal areas are apparent and growing in many regions of the world. For instance, fishery, shipping, military, raw material exploitation, nature protection and the rapidly expanding offshore wind power technology are competing for limited resources and space. The development and implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) strategies could help to solve these problems. Therefore, suitable spatial assessment, modeling, planning and management tools are urgently needed. These tools have to deal with data that include complex information on different spatial and temporal scales. A systematic approach based on the development of future scenarios which are assessed by combining different simulationmodels, GIS methods and an integrating set of ecological integrity indicators, was applied in a case study in the German North Sea. Here, the installation of huge offshore wind parks within the near future is planned. The aim was to model environmental effects of altered sea-use patterns on marine biota. Indicators of ecological integrity were used to assess altering conditions and possible ecosystem shifts ranging from systems' degradations to the development of highly productive and diverse artificial reef systems. The results showed that some ecosystem processes and properties and related indicators are sensitive to changes generated by offshore wind park installations while others did not react as hypothesized.

Description: Abstract Legal requirement in Europe asks for Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) in European seas, including considerations of trophic interactions and minimization of negative impacts of fishing on food webs and ecosystem functioning. Focusing on the interaction between fisheries and ecosystem components, the trophic model presented here shows for the first time the “big picture” of the western Baltic Sea (WBS) food web by quantifying structure and flows between all trophic elements and the impact of fisheries that were and are active in the area, based on best available recent data. Model results show that fishing pressures exerted on the WBS since the early nineties of the past century forces not only top predators such as harbour porpoises and seals but also cod and other demersal fish to heavily compete for fish as food and to cover their dietary needs by shifting to organisms lower in the trophic web, mainly to benthic macrofauna and / or search for suitable prey in adjacent ecosystems such as Kattegat, Skagerrak, central Baltic Sea and North Sea. While common sense implementations of EBFM have been proposed, such as fishing all stocks below Fmsy and reducing fishing pressure even further for forage fish such as herring and sprat, few studies compared such fishing to alternative scenarios. Different options for EBFM, with regards to recovery of depleted stocks and sustainable future catches, are presented here based on the WBS ecosystem model, the legal framework given by the new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) of the European Union. The model explores four legally valid future fishery scenarios: 1) business as usual, 2) maximum sustainable fishing (F = Fmsy), 3) half of Fmsy, and 4) EBFM with F = 0.5 Fmsy for forage fish and F = 0.8 Fmsy for other fish. In addition, a “No-fishing” scenario demonstrates, that neither individual stocks nor the whole system would collapse when all fishing activities from 2017 on would cease. Simulations show that “Business as usual” would perpetuate low 2016 catches from depleted stocks in an unstable ecosystem where endangered species may be lost. In contrast, an “EBFM” scenario - with herring and sprat fished at 0.5 Fmsy level and cod and other stocks fished at 0.8 Fmsy level - allows the recovery of all stocks with strongly increased catches close to the maximum (at Fmsy) for cod and flatfish and catches similar to the 2016 level for herring and sprat but with strongly reduced fishing effort. Model and methodology presented here are considered suitable to assess MSFD Criterion D4C2 in the WBS.