1. How does fishing affect the seabed of Greenland? Chris Yesson

2. Where's Greenland? 3. Where's Greenland? 4. Shrimp fishing a 1bn DKK industry 5. Marine Stewardship Council 6. Marine Stewardship Council Recognise and reward fisheries that fish sustainably Work with fishery and commercial partners to build a market for sustainable seafood Give buyers and consumers an easy way to find seafood from a sustainable fishery - the blue MSC ecolabel 7. Potential impact of trawling gear Some trawling has been likened to forest clear cutting Gear that is dragged along the bottom of the seabed can disturb, damage or destroy many organisms But the 'right gear' used in the 'right habitat' can have negligible impactUnimpactedImpactedCollie et al (2000) ICES J. Mar. Sci 57: 987-1000Watling & Norse (1998) Cons. Biol. 12: 1180-97 8. Our mission What benthic habitats are there on the west Greenland shelf? Are there any vulnerable marine ecosystems? What is the impact of shrimp trawling on these habitats? 9. Pamuit survey ship 10. Bycatch of large vulnerable organisms 11. Example seabed images 12. Some things are easy to identify 13. Some things are difficult to spot 14. Some things we can't ID 15. A guide to the benthic fauna 16. Biodiversity is... "The variability among living organisms from all sources including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems, and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems." - Convention on Biological Diversity 17. Which has higher biodiversity?A B 18. Which has higher biodiversity?C B 19. Diversity Number of organisms Number of species Biomass Shannon index An measure that tries to balance species and organisms 20. Calculate diversity for all stationsH=0.4H=0.9 21. and find fishing impact H=0.4 Impact=0H=0.9 Impact=Low 22. LowDiversityHighScatter plotsHighLow Fishing impact 23. High impact Low diversity High Low Fishing impactLowDiversityHighScatter plots 24. HighScatter plotsLowDiversityLow impact High diversityHighLow Fishing impact 25. HighScatter plotsLowDiversity?HighLow Fishing impact 26. DiversityScatter plots detecting patternsFishing impact 27. DiversityScatter plots detecting patternsFishing impact 28. Scatter plots detecting patterns Inverse correlationNo correlation 29. Diversity and fishing impact Weakly negative impact 30. Are all sites directly comparable? Sites with rocks have different species composition to those with only sand & mud Impact of fishing may be different for these habitats Most soft corals are permanently attached to rockMany soft sediment species can bury themselves in the sand/mud 31. Different response of habitats 32. Habitats differ by environment too 33. What effects diversity?Muddy seabed: Fishing impactRocky seabed: Depth Salinity Slope Temperature 34. Conclusions Benthic (seabed) habitats in Greenland are diverse Rocky and muddy seabeds are home to different species Rocky habitats have seen lower fishing impact and seem less disturbed by fishing activities Muddy habitats may be negatively impacted by fishing 35. Thanks At IOZ Kirsty Kemp Irina Chemshirova Poppy Simon Others Sustainable Fisheries Greenland Peder Munk Pedersen Greenland institute of natural resources Nanette Hammeken Martin Blicher