Abstract
Abstract. Fishing – especially trawling – is one of the most ubiquitous anthropogenic pressures on marine ecosystems worldwide, yet very few long-term, spatially explicit datasets on trawling effort exist; this greatly hampers our understanding of the medium- to long-term impact of trawling. This important gap is addressed here for the North Sea, a highly productive shelf sea which is also subject to many anthropogenic pressures. For a 31-year time span (1985–2015), we provide a gridded dataset of the spatial distribution of total international otter and beam trawling effort, with a resolution of 0.5∘ latitude by 1∘ longitude, over the North Sea. The dataset was largely reconstructed using compiled effort data from seven fishing effort time series, each covering shorter time spans and only some of the countries fishing the North Sea. For the years where effort data for particular countries were missing, the series was complemented using estimated (modelled) effort data. This new, long-term and large-scale trawling dataset may serve the wider scientific community, as well as those involved with policy and management, as a valuable information source on fishing pressure in a large marine ecosystem which is heavily impacted but which simultaneously provides a wealth of ecosystem services to society. The dataset is available on the Cefas Data Hub at: https://doi.org/10.14466/CefasDataHub.61, version 2 (Couce et al., 2019).
Highlights
Coastal and shelf seas are of great value to human societies and, being more productive than open oceans, provide some 80 % of the world’s wild-capture fisheries (Watson et al, 2016)
This paper aims at addressing this gap by presenting a 31-yearlong, spatially detailed dataset of total international trawling effort for the North Sea, distinguishing between otter and beam trawlers
This study represents the first reconstruction of total international trawling effort in the North Sea, spatially detailed by ICES rectangle, over a multi-decadal time span
Summary
Coastal and shelf seas are of great value to human societies and, being more productive than open oceans, provide some 80 % of the world’s wild-capture fisheries (Watson et al, 2016). The process of fishing that is required to obtain these benefits and services exerts a major anthropogenic pressure on shelf seas worldwide – along with climate change, pollution, eutrophication, and habitat loss (Hiddink et al, 2006; Jennings et al, 2016). Trawling is considered one of the more invasive fishing methods, as it does impact target fish populations (through removal of fish and size-selective harvesting) and has widerranging ecosystem effects, including on benthic organisms and habitats and other non-target species (Hiddink et al, 2017; Jennings et al, 2001; Schratzberger et al, 2002). It is subject to extensive anthropogenic pressures due to its geographical location in central Europe surrounded by seven countries, with concerns about pollution, habitat degradation, major ecosystem changes, and overfishing (Emeis et al, 2015; Kenny et al, 2018). In particular, is seen as one of the most significant impacts on fish and marine benthos in the North Sea (Kenny et al, 2018)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
