Workshop on the Conservation Management of Fish Populations in the Wadden Sea

On January 8th and 9th in 2015, the Programme towards a Rich Wadden Sea (PRW), the Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries (TI) and the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat (CWSS) are organizing a workshop focusing on the Conservation Management of Fish Populations in the Wadden Sea. The venue will be the Thünen Institute in Hamburg-Altona, Germany.

The shallow coastal waters of the Wadden Sea and its tributary estuaries and rivers provide indispensable ecological functions for fish, such as reproduction and feeding, but also serve as an acclimatization area and transit route for long-distance diadromous fish. The Wadden Sea ecosystem is also connected with and influenced by the North Sea. Marine juveniles and marine seasonal species form an important constituent of the Wadden Sea fish fauna, which has a total of approximately 150 species of fish, including 13 freshwater species.

The Wadden Sea is protected in international policy agreements such as the Habitats Directive Natura 2000, the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. However, there are few direct management measures for fish species other than the diadromous fish such as Twaite shad, River lamprey and Sea lamprey, also Sturgeon, Houting and Salmon. In order to ensure the development of a healthy fish community, the three Wadden Sea countries - Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands – have developed a series of targets for fish which will be implemented through the Wadden Sea Plan.   The targets for fish in the trilateral Wadden Sea Plan 2010 are as follows:

1. Viable stocks of populations and a natural reproduction of typical Wadden Sea fish species.
2. Occurrence and abundance of fish species according to the natural dynamics in (a)biotic conditions.
3. Favourable living conditions for endangered fish species.
4. Maintenance of the diversity of natural habitats to provide substratum for spawning and nursery functions for juvenile fish.
5. Maintaining and restoring the possibilities for the passage of migrating fish between the Wadden Sea and inland waters.

The workshop will focus on main requirements for implementing these targets by identifying the current status of fish populations, main pressures, gaps in data and knowledge. Furthermore suitable indicators for monitoring, which will be the basis for the formulation of recommendations for research, monitoring, conservation and management of Wadden Sea fish populations, also with reference to the forthcoming 2016 Wadden Sea Quality Status Report, will be discussed.

To see detailed information of the workshop programme, click here!

There will be opportunities for presenting own work in a poster during the workshop.

Please register by email before 15 December 2014: kloepper@waddensea-secretariat.org