Southern Baltic Sea - Polish EEZ

Fishery characterisation

The main objective of the project was to create an international database containing results from bottom trawl surveys conducted by national research vessels in the Baltic Sea. The database is mainly available for fish assessment experts within the ICES working groups in order to evaluate stocks biomass and their development in the future taking into account the abundance indices of recruiting year classes. Results can be also used for investigations of interannual changes in the spatial distribution of fish. The database is also open for other purposes, e.g. ecological studies. The database contains information on gear performance (netting, swept area) and on biological variables (size, age, maturity, etc). The data, which are collected during the surveys, are stored in common agreed database format described in detail in the manual elaborated during the project. The following countries participate in the project: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the ICES Secretariat. BITS database is updated annually and stored at the ICES Secretariat.

National Marine Fisheries Research Institute
Kollataja 1
Gdynia

81-332
Poland