Stéphanie Mahévas

Quantitative description of habitat suitability for the juvenile common sole (Solea solea, L.) in the Bay of Biscay (France) and the contribution of different habitats to the adult population

Abstract This study describes the spatial distribution of young-of-the-year sole based on autumnal beam trawl surveys conducted in the Bay of Biscay (France) during a 15-y period. Previous studies showed that habitat suitability for juvenile sole varies according to physical factors such as bathymetry, sediment structure and river plume influence. These factors, which are known exhaustively for the entire Bay of Biscay from static maps (bathymetry and granulometry) or temporal maps based on a hydrodynamic model (the river plume), were used as descriptors in a generalised linear model of habitat suitability in order to characterise the distribution of juvenile 0-group sole according to delta distribution. This model was used to identify the habitats in which juvenile 0-group sole are concentrated. The respective areas of these habitats were determined from a Geographic Information System (GIS), and their respective contribution to the sole population in the Bay of Biscay was calculated in terms of the estimated number of young fish (GIS area×density derived from the model). Despite the great variability of survey data, this quantitative approach emphasises the highly important role of restricted shallow, muddy estuarine areas as nursery grounds of sole in the Bay of Biscay and demonstrates the relation between interannual variations of nursery habitat capacity (with respect to estuarine extent) and sole recruitment.

Supporting Fisheries Management by Means of Complex Models: Can We Point out Isles of Robustness in a Sea of Uncertainty?

Ecosystems are usually complex, nonlinear and strongly influenced by poorly known environmental variables. Among these systems, marine ecosystems have high uncertainties: marine populations in general are known to exhibit large levels of natural variability and the intensity of fishing efforts can change rapidly. These uncertainties are a source of risks that threaten the sustainability of both fish populations and fishing fleets targeting them. Appropriate management measures have to be found in order to reduce these risks and decrease sensitivity to uncertainties. Methods have been developed within decision theory that aim at allowing decision making under severe uncertainty. One of these methods is the information-gap decision theory. The info-gap method has started to permeate ecological modelling, with recent applications to conservation. However, these practical applications have so far been restricted to simple models with analytical solutions. Here we implement a deterministic approach based on decision theory in a complex model of the Eastern English Channel. Using the ISIS-Fish modelling platform, we model populations of sole and plaice in this area. We test a wide range of values for ecosystem, fleet and management parameters. From these simulations, we identify management rules controlling fish harvesting that allow reaching management goals recommended by ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) working groups while providing the highest robustness to uncertainties on ecosystem parameters.

Toward a Dynamical Approach for Systematic Conservation Planning of Eastern English Channel Fisheries

In the past decade, systematic conservation planning tools have been increasingly and successfully used to set spatial conservation plans that meet quantitative protection targets while minimizing enforcement and socioeconomic costs. However, when applied to fisheries, systematic conservation planning fails to account for (1) changes in fleet dynamics induced by new conservation constraints and their associated feedbacks on conservation costs or (2) their influence on fish population dynamics and distributions, which may in turn alter the achievement of conservation targets. Such a static approach may therefore lead to short- or medium-term misestimates in forecasted costs and target achievements. In order to circumvent such limitations of systematic conservation planning, we present a first attempt to couple a conservation planning tool (Marxan with Zones) with a mixed fisheries dynamics simulation model (ISIS-Fish), applied to the Eastern English Channel fisheries. Broad principles and perspectives are discussed and anticipated future challenges of such an approach are presented.

Indicators for Ecosystem-Based Management: Methods and Applications

Indicators are essential tools for policy making, public communication and the provision of scientific advice. In fisheries science, indicators have been increasingly used to advising on fish and shellfish stock management, especially since the precautionary approach to fisheries management was developed. They are now becoming a cornerstone of the wider ecosystem approach to the management of all human activities. In this section, we provide some recent examples of methods we developed for creating and selecting pressure indicators and ecological indicators derived from different types of information (scientific survey data, commercial fisheries data) for a range of ecosystems, covering pelagic, demersal and deep-water systems.

From Data to End-to-End Models: 15 Years of Research to Describe the Dynamics of Exploited Marine Ecosystems in the Eastern Channel

Considerable research has been conducted in the past 15 years around the Eastern English Channel ecosystem. Data collected since the 1970s on the biotic and abiotic compartments have been collated and mapped out in the mid-2000. This spatially explicit information formed a sound basis to improve knowledge on, and model, the functioning and dynamics of key ecosystem compartments, with a focus on flatfish species and fisheries and their interactions with other sectors of activity (aggregate extractions, maritime traffic). The more recent ongoing works are dedicated to the integration of those processes into several complementary end-to-end ecosystem models.