Irish Sea

Suspended particulate material aggregates; Zooplankton and zoobenthos morphological parameters; Electrical conductivity of the water column; Chlorophyll pigment concentrations in water bodies; Zooplankton growth rates; Suspended particulate material setting velocity parameters; Zooplankton reproduction rate parameters; Salinity of the water column; Temperature of the water column; Zooplankton taxonomy-related abundance per unit volume of the water column; Zooplankton taxonomy-related biomass expressed as carbon per unit volume of the water column; Phytoplankton growth; Concentration of suspended particulate material in the water column; Zooplankton and zoobenthos development stage parameters; Zooplankton egg hatch proportion; Phytoplankton taxonomic abundance in water bodies; Zooplankton feeding

Fluorometers; nutrient analysers; plankton recorders; plankton nets; CTD undulators; CTD; plankton categorisers and counters

The project was initiated in March 1987, as a collaborative study between the Fisheries Laboratory, Lowestoft and the NERC Institute for Marine Environmental Research (which became the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in 1988). The scientific problem studied concerned the differences that occur in fish yields per unit area between the Irish and North Seas; the Irish Sea has consistently yielded a lower catch per unit area than the North Sea. The aim was to study the productivity of both phytoplankton and zooplankton, in relation to the survival of fish larvae, and to investigate how differences in ecosystem structure might influence the availability of food and successful recruitment of fish, and to determine if these were critical factors which might explain the differences between these two seas.

Coombs, S.H., Nichols, J.H., Conway, D.V.P., Milligan, S., and Halliday. N. C. (1992) Food availability for sprat larvae in the Irish Sea., Journal of the Marine Biological Association U.K, 72: 821-834.

Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Prospect Place The Hoe
Plymouth
England
PL1 3DH
United Kingdom