Spatially explicit estimates of stock sizes, structure and biomass of herring and blue whiting, and catch data of bluefin tuna

摘要

The North Atlantic is a productive marine region which has supportedimportant commercial fisheries for centuries. Many of these fisheries haveexploited the pelagic species, including herring, blue whiting and tuna.Here we present data on the distribution of herring and blue whiting basedon the international ecosystem survey in the Nordic Seas (IESNS), the bottomtrawl survey in the Bay of Biscay and Celtic Sea (EVHOE) and the pelagic surveyin the Bay of Biscay (PELGAS). We also present catch data on bluefin tuna,which has been depleted for decades but historically used to be a keypredator on the other pelagic stocks during summer. The results show thatthere were substantial changes in the herring and blue whitingdistribution during the 1990s and early 2000s. The earliest bluefin tunacatches noted were in 1907. The catches in the Norwegian Sea area peaked inthe 1950s and there have been very small catches since the 1980s. Thereported catches in the Mediterranean, on the other hand, peaked in the late1990s and subsequently had a strong reduction.