Long-term trends on the effects of the southern North Sea beamtrawl fishery on the bivalve mollusc Arctica islandica L. (Mollusca, bivalvia)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Arctica islandica has been used as an indicator organism for the intensity of bottom trawling in the southern North Sea. That this species in affected by beamtrawl fisheries is illustrated by the high of damage found on shells from heavily fished areas. Between 80 and 90% of the damage was found at the posterior ventral side of the shell. This can be explained by the orientation of the living animal in the upper sediment layer and the horizontal movement of the tickler chains on the bottom. Scars on the external shell surface were dated by internal growth lines, revealing that the sampling site had been disturbed at least once a year since 1974. The observed trends in the occurrence of scars per year show a striking coincidence with the increase in capacity of the Dutch fishing fleet over the period 1972-199).

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: