Continuous Plankton Recorder - multi-decadal time series for pelagic ecosystems

oncept note 1 Providing tools to support the development of an adaptive management of UK fishery Climate change can considerably affect the productivity of fish populations, magnifying already unstable conditions of overexploited fish stocks and reducing their resilience, with major socio-economic impacts. In recent decades, rising seawater temperature and changes in food-web structure observed in UK waters have been linked with increasing abundances of warm-water fish species (e.g. red-mullet, john dory) and corresponding declines and poor recruitment of cold-water fish species (e.g. cod, herring). In waters surrounding the UK, and more in general in mid-latitudinal regions, shifts have been recorded in several commercial and non-commercial fish species. However, underlying mechanisms linking climate change and dynamics of fish populations are still poorly known, particularly for non-commercial fish species. Here we propose to integrate information on fish behaviour and ecology with long-term records of fish and environmental descriptors collected at mid- and low-latitudes using different types of modelling approaches. The overall aim is to identify environmental preferences and key habitat descriptors that could be used to forecast the distribution and stock-size of cold- and warm-water fish species in UK waters under future climate change scenarios. The outputs from this project will contribute to the development of an adaptive management strategy for the fisheries sector in UK waters. This will provide policy makers with the knowledge and tools to identify risks, opportunities and uncertainties, in order guarantee self-sufficiency of the domestic supply of fish. Concept note 2 Gathering new information on warm-water fish species habitats in support of an adaptive management of the UK fishery We propose to establish an integrated monitoring framework to assess environmental characteristics of fish/invertebrates habitats in southern regions such as the Mauritanian Large Marine Ecosystem, which sustains one of the most productive fishing grounds in the world. The main aim is to provide fundamental information on environmental preferences and key habitat descriptors that can be used to sustainably manage warm-water fish species which, due to climate change, are increasingly expanding their distributions into mid-latitudinal regions such as UK.

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