The “Smalls” Nephrops Grounds (FU22) 2017 UWTV Survey Report and catch options for 2018

This report provides the main results and findings of the twelfth annual underwater television survey on the ‘Smalls grounds’ ICES assessment area; Functional Unit 22. The survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV, CTD and other ecosystem data. A total of 40 UWTV stations were surveyed successfully (good quality video footage) carried out over an isometric grid at 4.5nmi or 8.3km intervals. The precision, with a CV of 5%, was well below the upper limit of 20% recommended by SGNEPS 2012. The 2017 abundance estimate was 16% higher than in 2016 and at 1600 million is above the new MSY Btrigger (990 million). Using the 2017 estimate of abundance and updated stock data implies catch of 4,332 tonnes and landings of 3,784 tonnes in 2018 when MSY approach is applied (assuming that discard rates and fishery selection patterns do not change from the average of 2014–2016). Only one species of sea-pen Virgilaria mirabilis was recorded as present at the stations surveyed. Trawl marks were observed at 59% of the stations surveyed. Ten beam trawl tows were carried out providing important data on the benthic communities and size structure of the Nephrops population.

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10793/1331

Citation

O’Brien, S., Blaszkowski, M., Butler, R., Fee, D., Hernon, P., Santana, C., Lordan, C. and Doyle, J. 2017. The “Smalls” Nephrops Grounds (FU22) 2017 UWTV Survey Report and catch options for 2018. Marine Institute UWTV Survey report.