Fisheries Impacts on North Atlantic Ecosystems: Catch, Effort and National/Regional Data Sets
Preliminary Report of Coastal Fisheries Around the Coasts of the British Isles 1950-1999
Magnus Johnson1 and Paul Hart2
1Centre for Environmental Research into Coastal Issues, University College Scarborough
2Biology Department, University of LeicesterAbstract
The following report and the associated spreadsheets constitute a summary of the data that have been gathered for the Sea Around Us project between November and December 1999. Guidance from personnel and access to data at the Fisheries laboratories in both Aberdeen and Lowestoft are available. People from the sports fishing sector have been extremely enthusiastic. The Shark tagging association, British Conger Club and the National Federation of Sea Anglers have provided access to their archives of match fishing from the 1920s onwards. Angling organizations feel that, relative to commercial fishers they presently have a weak voice in the politics of marine resource management and conservation. The European Federation of Sea Anglers is presently submitting a proposal for a study to examine the economic importance of sports fishing. Information presented here include time series data on UK lobster (Homarus gammarus) and Scottish salmon catches, conger angling data, as well as findings from a coastal fisheries survey.