Background and Objective

The project will summarize existing knowledge and synthesize this with most recent scientific results to form a knowledge base for sustainable management of the Crangon fisheries in the Coastal and Wadden Sea of the North Sea. Based on the review, management scenarios - among others related to ongoing and planned alternative MSC eco-labelling processes - will be evaluated and new proposals for management action will be developed. Proposed scenarios will be ecologically and economically sustainable and combine legal interests of fishermen with the conservation goals of the National Park Wadden Sea.

Target Group

National fisheries administration, fishing industry, nature conservation authorities

Approach

Recent results from research projects and literature are reviewed and proposals for management action derived.

Results

In this study, existing knowledge on the biology of brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) and new research results on brown shrimp fisheries are being collated to provide a basis for a discussion on future decision-making in terms of a brown shrimp fisheries management. Special attention is being paid to the requirements of the “National Park Wadden Sea” of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein.

The main results of this study address the biology of brown shrimp, the distribution patterns of the fisheries and their yields, as well as the impacts of fisheries on the brown shrimp, their habitats and ecosystems. In conjunction with possibilities for technical improvements, spatial catch limitations and the current management advice of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), a compiled portfolio of management measures is being presented. This information may facilitate the dialogue between decision makers and stakeholders.

Concrete management measures are explicitly not put forward, but the available and potentially suitable tools and their tasks in a comprehensive management approach are being described. Apart from the fishing effort limitation via a Harvest Control Rule recommended by ICES, a broader management approach comprises the following core elements:

• improvement of catch selectivity by technical measures,
• minimisation of bottom contact by gear modifications, as well as
• area management for habitat and ecosystem protection, with components of seasonal or real-time closures and the designation of fisheries exclusion areas.