2004 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA5 Technical Report - Cephalopods (North Sea)
This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA5) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). Cephalopods are short-lived molluscs, characterised by rapid growth rates, and are important predators and prey in oceanic and neritic environments. They can range in size from 1.5 cm in pygmy squid (Sepiolidae) to 20 m in giant squid (Architheutidae). Cephalopods exhibit the highest degree of development in invertebrate nervous systems, expressed through complex behaviour patterns such as the ability to learn and the display of complex colour changes. In contrast to other molluscs, most cephalopods lack an external shell, are highly mobile as adults and occupy similar ecological niches to predatory fish. This report focuses mainly on the species of fishery importance: the loliginid squid Loligo forbesi and the ommastrephid squid Todarodes sagittatus and Todaropsis eblanae together with the octopus Eledone cirrhosa. Brief accounts of other commonly occurring cephalopod species are also provided.
dataset
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal
- The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS.
British Geological Survey
:
BGS_SEA_64
English
Biota
Environment
Oceans
Environment
Oceans
SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary:
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0:
SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages:
Species distribution
Free:
-4.00,
55.80,
1.00,
61.50
publication: 2004-01-01
2004-01-01
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2004-01-01
British Geological Survey (BGS)
Paul Henni
Murchison House, West Mains Road,
Edinburgh,
EH9 3LA,
UK
tel: +44 (0)131 667 1000
email:
offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk
Role: custodian
Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
Admiralty Way,
London,
SW1A 2HD,
UK
tel: +44 0300 060 4000
email:
enquiries@decc.gsi.gov.uk
Role: originator
Data Quality
As part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme this report was prepared by Gabriele Stowasser, Graham J Pierce, Jianjun Wang and M Begona Santos of the Department of Zoology, University of Aberdeen. Some of the general background material presented here is taken from the reports on cephalopods in the SEA 2 and 3 and SEA 4 areas (Pierce et al., 2002, Pierce et al.,
2003). Data on cephalopod landings from the ICES area are compiled by the ICES Working Group on Cephalopod Fisheries and Life History (WGCEPH) (e.g. Anon., 2003). However, these compilations are based on ICES fisheries sub-divisions, with the SEA 5 area covering only the western part of major fisheries subdivision
Iva and Ivb in the North Sea. Thus trends for the SEA 5 area have been reconstructed by reference to the source fishery databases. General patterns in cephalopod landings can be inferred from data presented in the WGCEPH report (Anon., 2003). Fishery data provide the best available information on cephalopod distribution and abundance. Since most cephalopods are landed in the UK as a by-catch of trawling, landings per unit effort (LPUE) can be used as an index of species abundance (see Pierce et al., 1994d) and such data are available on a monthly, by ICES rectangle, basis.
2003). Data on cephalopod landings from the ICES area are compiled by the ICES Working Group on Cephalopod Fisheries and Life History (WGCEPH) (e.g. Anon., 2003). However, these compilations are based on ICES fisheries sub-divisions, with the SEA 5 area covering only the western part of major fisheries subdivision
Iva and Ivb in the North Sea. Thus trends for the SEA 5 area have been reconstructed by reference to the source fishery databases. General patterns in cephalopod landings can be inferred from data presented in the WGCEPH report (Anon., 2003). Fishery data provide the best available information on cephalopod distribution and abundance. Since most cephalopods are landed in the UK as a by-catch of trawling, landings per unit effort (LPUE) can be used as an index of species abundance (see Pierce et al., 1994d) and such data are available on a monthly, by ICES rectangle, basis.
Minimal Distance:
5 http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/ISO_19139_Schemas/resources/uom/gmxUom.xml#m
Constraints
Metadata about metadata
aba64100-c134-4de3-e044-0003ba6f30bd
British Geological Survey (BGS)
Mary Mowat
tel: +44 (0)131 667 1000
email:
offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk
Role: point of contact
2011-08-30