The area is comprised of the Celtic Sea, the
Bristol Channel and southwest Ireland. As with North west Scotland,
the coastline is varied, often with deep water close inshore. The
coastline of southwest Ireland is highly indented and usually
rocky. Steep cliffs predominate which drop abruptly into deep water
(50m +) extending close inshore. Offshore islands and stacks extend
the line of promontories as erosional remnants of more elongated
peninsulas. In the Celtic Sea and Bristol Channel, the sediments
are predominantly sands or gravel, although near the exposed
western tip of Cornwall there are extensive areas of bedrock. Much
of the inner Bristol Channel also has bare bedrock, with mobile
sediments being restricted to the linear banks near the coast. This
area has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world. The
influence of the relative warm waters of the Gulf Stream is
particularly strong in the area. This has lead to the development
of some of the richest areas of marine life.
Fisheries
Inshore there are a wide variety of fisheries for shellfish
including crabs (edible crab Cancer pagurus, velvet
swimming crab Necora puber, crawfish Palinurus
elephans), lobsters (Homarus gammerus), cockles
(Cerastoderma edule) and razorclams (Ensis spp.).
These tend to be pot or creel based fisheries, although hydraulic
dredges are often used for collecting cockles and razorclams.
Further offshore, the main demersal fisheries are for cod,
whiting, sole and plaice using otter and beam trawls. Mixed
demersal fisheries also occur for rays, gadoids, flatfish and squid
using otter trawls. These are conducted primarily by Belgium,
France, Ireland and the UK. More recently, cuttlefish and squid
have become an important component of the beam trawl fisheries.
Spanish and French trawlers have developed a trawl fishery for
anglerfish around the 200m contour to the south and west of
Ireland. Bycatch of this fishery includes hake, megrim and to a
lesser extent Nephrops norvegicus. Since the 1990s, a
gillnet fishery for anglerfish has also developed in this area.
Megrim is also targeted directly by French, Spanish, Irish and UK
vessels.
Hake is targeted by line fisheries (UK and Spain) as well as
fixed nets and trawls (UK, Spain, France, Ireland and Denmark).
Nephrops, seabass and grey mullet are also caught in the
southwestern approaches. Over harder grounds, rockhopper trawl gear
is used to catch saithe and pollack.
There is a pelagic fishery targeting herring in the Celtic
Sea, whilst mackerel and horse mackerel are targeted over the wider
area. The herring fishery used to be predominantly for roe only,
but has converted to a fishery utilising the whole fish for human
consumption. Much of the mackerel landed comes from a relatively
small number of large trawlers from UK, Ireland, Denmark and the
Netherlands.
Status of the
Stocks
Information on the status of the stocks has been derived from
the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES)
who have a commitment to undertake annual stock assessments in
European waters.
The majority of stocks in this area are harvested outside safe
biological limits. They are characterised by low spawning stock and
high fishing mortality rates. Of particular concern are the
northern hake and cod in the Celtic Sea area. Stock recovery plans
have been prepared for both these species. Anglerfish (Lophius
piscatoris and L.budegassa) and megrim
(Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis and L.boscii) are
harvested outside safe biological limits. The status of the haddock
stocks is unknown but it is assumed that fishing mortality should
not be increased despite the outstanding 2001 year class. Plaice
are currently outside safe biological limits, and sole are
harvested outside safe biological limits, in the Celtic Sea.
Southwest of Ireland, the status of the stock for these species is
unknown. Whiting catches in the southwestern approaches is thought
to be inside safe biological limits, but there should be no
increase in fishing mortality.
Nephrops is currently exploited at sustainable
levels. It is, however, recommended that catches should be
constrained to the recent low levels in certain areas.
Environmental problems
- There is evidence of substantial numbers of bycaught dolphins (mainly common and Atlantic
white-sided dolphins) in pelagic trawls (targeting tuna, hake,
seabass, horse mackerel, mackerel and herring) in the south-west
approaches. For example between 2001 and 2003, observed onboard
trawlers targeting seabass recorded 91 common dolphins taken in 313
hauls.
- A small bycatch of leatherback turtles (Dermochelys
coriacea) occurs in this area, usually between July and
September when the turtles are most abundant. These turtles are
usually caught through entanglement in ropes, particularly those
used in the pot fisheries. The significance of the leatherback
bycatch is unknown, however, this species is listed as being
globally endangered.
- Extensive discarding in roundfish (e.g. cod and haddock),
flatfish and Nephrops fisheries largely consisting of
small and juvenile fish belonging to commercially important
species. This will have an impact of potential yields in the future
and is a serious impediment to the rebuilding of depleted stocks,
particularly hake and cod.
- Seafans (Eunicella verrucosa), the sunset cupcoral
(Leptopsammia pruvoti) and the fan mussel (Atrina
fragilis) are all found in the southwest and have Species
Action Plans associated with them. All are damaged by contact with
fishing gear. In particular, potting is likely to have an impact on
seafans and scallop dredging has been shown to destroy fan
mussels.