Irish Exclusive Economic; Currently Designated Irish Continental Shelf; Irish Territorial Sea; Irish Contiguous Zone; Irish Internal Waters

Date and time; Fish abundance in water bodies; Fish and shellfish catch statistics

Demersal trawl nets

Demersal discards atlas provides information on discarding patterns by species and area by the various Irish demersal fleets. A number of potential technical measures to reduce discards are shown as well as two case studies showing the potential impact technical measures have on landings and discards. This Atlas represents a first attempt at auditing Irish fisheries and proposes some options to mitigate discards. It should be emphasised that discarding occurs in all international fleets operating in the waters around Ireland and that mitigation measures must be applied to all these fleets if we are to implement a successful discard reduction policy. Demersal discards in marine waters around Ireland include North Atlantic Ocean, Celtic Sea and Irish Sea. The data has been collected between 1995 and 2009. The demersal catch sampling programme conducted by the Marine Institute (MI) was carried out using a combination of port based and at sea sampling methods. Previous programmes have been carried out since the early 1960’s, but the focus was on port sampling only (i.e. landings). The combined port and sea based sampling programme (catch) commenced in 1993 and has one of the longest time series of discard data in Europe. The purpose of this Atlas was to present the scientific observations on discarding by the Irish Demersal fleet. Data collection and interpretation undertaken jointly by the Marine Institute (MI) and Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM). Data is considered a complete discards review for the time period covered.

Marine Institute/Bord Iascaigh Mhara (2011) Atlas of Demersal Discarding Scientific Observations and Potential Solutions, Marine Institute/Bord Iascaigh Mhara

Marine Institute
Rinville
Oranmore
Co. Galway
H91 R673
Ireland