Dutch to Danish coastal area sampled in 10 standard transects

Fish morphology, age and physiology; Fish taxonomy-related abundance per unit area of the bed; Salinity of the water column; Temperature of the water column; Zoobenthos taxonomic abundance; Zoobenthos taxonomy-related counts; Fish taxonomy-related counts; Fish biomass in water bodies

Balances and scales; rulers; CTD; beam trawls

The Dutch Sole Net Survey (SNS) is carried out annually in September-October in transects in the coastal zone of the south-eastern North Sea, stretching from Scheveningen (NL) up to Esbjerg (DK), using a beam trawl with 40 mm mesh in the cod-end. The SNS aims at monitoring the demersal fish fauna and epibenthos in coastal waters of the North Sea. All species are sorted from the catch, fish are measured and counted, other species are counted and weighed. For species of commercial interest biological information is collected following a stratification. The primary objective of the SNS is to provide fisheries-independent abundance indices for flatfish. These indices are used by the ICES Working Group on the Assessment of Demersal Stocks in the North Sea and Skagerrak (WGNSSK) for tuning the VPAs and for short-term stock and catch projections. The survey is part of the EU Data Collection Framework and internationally coordinated by the ICES working group on beam trawl surveys (WGBEAM).

Https://www.wur.nl/nl/Onderzoek-Resultaten/Wettelijke-Onderzoekstaken/Centrum-voor-Visserijonderzoek-1/Visserijonafhankelijke-bemonstering.htm (2020) Surveys in the North Sea,

Wageningen Marine Research, IJmuiden
Haringkade 1
IJmuiden

1976 CP
Netherlands