RSS 1.0Scientific Papers
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Science Communication: Stakeholder perceptions of Real-time Incentive Fisheries ManagementIn these changing times, with political and environmental uncertainty surrounding us, fisheries management needs to become more adaptive in order to respond to the changes in our natural environment and changing management frameworks. Based on close to real-time information updates, and harnessing modern technology, Real-Time Incentive (RTI) fisheries management is designed to evolve with the fish stocks, enabling managers to respond more quickly and efficiently to management issues as they arise. Through the use of a credit system that makes use of regularly updated fine-scale information, incentives can be incorporated as rewards to encourage desirable actions such as data collection or ‘fishing-for-litter’ activities. However, in order for a new system such as this to be useful and become accepted, stakeholders must be involved in the development and design process. This paper details the consultative process carried out with Irish demersal fishery stakeholders in an effort to identify their likes and dislikes of the system, and work towards tailoring the RTI system into a practical solution that works for them. In this process, we achieved a detailed understanding of the fishery, the complexity of the system, and the challenges faced by the stakeholders, all of which must be considered when attempting to implement a new management system such as RTI. A range of proposals were made by stakeholders, including new ideas for the future development of the RTI system. Most striking were the numerous ideas and approaches to tackling key issues currently facing the industry, many of which also have relevance to existing fisheries management. Given the freedom and support to do so, fishing industry stakeholders are eager to contribute to solving many of their own problems.
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Herring larval surveys in the Celtic Sea and division VIIj in 1983/1984Surveys for herring larvae in the Celtic Sea were conducted for the sixth ~ successive season between October 1983 and February 1984. The modifications made to the survey grid in the previous season to take account of the amalgamation of the Celtic Sea and Division VIIj for assessment purposes and to ascertain if larvae drift into the Irish Sea were also adopted for the 1983/84 surveys. A drift of larvae towards the Irish Sea was apparent in 1983/84. The larval abundance index for 1983/84 based on a standard survey area was almost three times higher than any previous value. A continuous increase in larval indices since 1978/79 indicates a recovery of the spawning stock.
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The age Distribution of the Herring Stocks around the Irish Coast during 1993The age distribution of stocks is usually considered as an indication of how healthy a stock may be. In general stocks which are lightly exploited will contain a much larger proportion of older fish than a stock which is heavily exploited. A stock which is heavily exploited will probably be dependent on one year class which will recruit to the fishery and which will immediately be subjected to fishing effort. Obviously in such a fishery failure of recruitment or poor recruitment will have drastic effect on the catches. Herrings can be aged accurately until are about 10 years old and generally recruit to the adult stocks during their third year. During this year, the majority of fish will spawn for the first time.
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On the Mesh of Herring Drift-Nets in Relation to the Condition Factor of the FishIt is well known to herring fishermen that, in order to get the best returns, the mesh of their nets must correspond to the size of the fish on the grounds, but that this correspondence must take into account of both the length and the weight or condition of the fish has not, I think, been clearly pointed out. I have tried in this paper to express in definite figures a relationship between the size of the mesh and the condition and length of the fish taken together.
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The Herring Fishery in Éire, 1921 - 1941.In the following pages an attempt has been made to give a concise summary of the herring fishery in the years from 1921 to 1941, or approximately the period between the two European wars. The abnormal conditions in 1914-1918 were prolonged locally by abnormal transport and generally unsettled conditions until 1923 but, except for increased demand for herrings for export, higher prices and the absence of English and Scottish boats from our shores, the years 1940 and 1941 did not differ markedly from the preceding period.
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Racial analyses of Dunmore East Herring stocks by means of the OtolithsEinarsson (1951) has shown that it is possible to separate in a mixed fishery the winter/spring spawned fish from summer/autumn spawned fish on the basis of the appearance of the nuclei of the otoliths. In general, the winter/spring spawned fish have small hyaline and opaque nuclei, whereas the summer/autumn spawned fish have large hyaline nuclei. Otoliths from herrings taken at Dunmore East in the period 1960 to 1964 were examined and classified using Einarsson's method.
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The Herring Fisheries off the North coast of DonegalThe herring fishery which takes place every spring and early summer off the North Coast of Donegal is one of the most regular and uniform on the coast of Ireland, and, as it has been under close observation from a scientific point of view since 1921, a short account of it will serve to illustrate the aims of modern methods of research and the extent to which these methods can lead to results of practical value.
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Herring larval surveys in the Celtic Sea in 1981/82The distributions of herring larvae sampled on ten cruises off the south coast of Ireland during the 1981/82 spawning season are described. A new larval abundance index, which is based on the abundances of <10mm larvae prior to 15 December and on <11mm larvae afterwards,has been calculated for the last four seasons. This index shows an increase each year since 1978/79 indicating that the spawning stock biomass has also increased.
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Reports from the FSS mini-symposia 2004-2005The mini symposia documented in this publication were meetings organised in October 2004 and August 2005 by the 'Modelling and Simulation' team in Fisheries Science Services (FSS) of the Marine Institute, Ireland. Both symposia took place at the Harbour Hotel in Galway, Ireland. Each meeting consisted of a number of presentations (given as talks or posters) followed by a round-table informal discussion session. The two meetings were attended by participants from FSS and the Marine Institute, BIM (Bord Iascaigh Mara - Irish Sea Fisheries Board), FRS (Fisheries Research Services) Aberdeen, and universities in both Ireland and UK. The Appendix contains a full list of the participants at each meeting, while contact details for those who gave presentations are given at the start of each summary paper.
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Irish Sea Young Herring SurveyCorrected proof
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Fecundity studies on herring from the north west of IrelandFor some time past studies have been performed on herring fecundities by various scientists. Farren (1938) was the first to suggest that stocks could be separated by studying the different fecundity/length relationship of winter and autumn spawing populations from the Irish coast. Burd and Howlett (1974) calculated a fecundity index by length cubed and as a result clearly separated the spawning populations of Banks and Downs herring in the North Sea. Molloy (1979) regressed fecundity on length cubed for Celtic sea samples and was able to distinguish between the autumn spawning component and the winter spawning component in the Celtic Sea. This paper describes fecundity studies carried out on autumn spawning herring from the newly established management unit (V1a Lower and V11b) off the North west of Ireland. The results are compared with fecundity data from other Irish stocks and with the results obtained by Farran on the same stock over 40 years ago. It may be possible to use these results to calculate the spawning potential of the herring and those spawning off the Scottish coast. The spawning grounds from which these herring were taken are situated a few miles off the North West coast.
