Recovery of intertidal mussel beds in the Waddensea: use of habitat maps in the management of the fishery

Dankers, N.M.J.A.; Brinkman, A.G.; Meijboom, A.; Dijkman, E.M.

doi:10.1007/978-94-010-0434-3_3

Cited by 17 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Sensitivity to human activities: Mussel beds have declined in European waters, mainly due to overexploitation (Dankers et al, 2001). The probable role of marine pollution has also been stressed (Herlyn & Millat, 2000).…”

Section: Mussel Beds On Circalittoral Rock (Eunis A424)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of goods and services, vulnerability, and conservation status of European seabed biotopes: a stepping stone towards ecosystem-based marine spatial management

et al. 2012

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The goal of ecosystem-based marine spatial management is to maintain marine ecosystems in a healthy, productive and resilient condition; hence, they can sustainably provide the needed goods and services for human welfare. However, the increasing pressures upon the marine realm threaten marine ecosystems, especially seabed biotopes, and thus a well-planned approach of managing use of marine space is essential to achieve sustainability. The relative value of seabed biotopes, evaluated on the basis of goods and services, is an important starting point for the spatial management of marine areas. Herein, 56 types of European seabed biotopes and their related goods, services, sensitivity issues, and conservation status were compiled, the latter referring to management and protection tools which currently apply for these biotopes at European or international level. Fishing activities, especially by benthic trawls, and marine pollution are the main threats to European seabed biotopes. Increased seawater turbidity, dredged sediment disposal, coastal constructions, biological invasions, mining, extraction of raw materials, shipping-related activities, tourism, hydrocarbon exploration, and even some practices of scientific research, also exert substantial pressure. Although some first steps have been taken to protect the European sea beds through international agreements and European and national legislation, a finer scale of classification and assessment of marine biotopes is considered crucial in shaping sound priorities and management guidelines towards the effective conservation and sustainability of European marine resources.

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Section: Mussel Beds On Circalittoral Rock (Eunis A424)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of goods and services, vulnerability, and conservation status of European seabed biotopes: a stepping stone towards ecosystem-based marine spatial management

et al. 2012

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“…For example, in the Wadden Sea where natural or human pressure occurred (Dankers et al, 2001) there are records of extraordinary recoveries because of a good reproduction year which caused an increase from 170 ha to 1280 ha in one year (Dankers et al, 1999in Dankers et al, 2001. It is therefore expected that a rapid increase in the cover percentage of mussel beds occur should access to these rocky shores remain difficult.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of harvest by humans on mussel populations around Easter

Ferreira¹,

Seixas

Rijo³

et al. 2013

RGCI

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The current macroeconomic scenario has subjected Portuguese coastal areas to greater human pressure caused by the ever-increasing shellfish harvest. Every year on Holy Friday, hundreds of people make their way to coastal areas and frantically capture hundreds of bags worth of mussels in a short amount of time. It causes not just inevitable and profound changes to the intertidal zone, but also slows down its recovery. In 2010 Cascais Municipality (CM) was made aware of this problem and in 2011 and 2012 released a general awareness campaign entitled "In Easter who pays is the mussel". More than just providing a legal perspective, the goal was to test the impact of said campaign in Meixilhoeiro's mussel beds. Biological data sampling in "Mexilhoeiro" was conducted over a three-year period, from 2010 to 2012. In 2010 there was no awareness campaign but sampling was done after Holy Friday. In 2011 and 2012 it was done both after and before Holy Friday. The average length and coverage percentage of individuals in rocks were recorded. The subsequent graphical analysis indicated that the average coverage percentage of mussels had been decreasing over the years. However a positive sign was recorded in after the 2012 awareness campaign, when the average length of individuals showed an increase. This could mean a reduction in harvesting during Holy Friday. Results suggest that awareness campaigns are effective measures in the immediate protection of marine resources, when supported by reinforcement in surveillance from fisheries protection authorities. For such improvements to persist, so must those efforts. Beachgoers in the summertime can have a detrimental impact on mussel bed size. Prohibiting recreational fishing will not suffice. 145-155 (2013) Keywords: Mytilus galloprovincialis, recreational harvest, Easter, Awareness campaign. Resumo Actualmente, devido à conjuntura macro-económica, as zonas costeiras do país estão cada vez mais sujeitas à pressão antropogénica provocada pela apanha de organismos bivalves e marisco no geral. Desde 2010 que a Câmara Municipal de Cascais (CMC) tomou conhecimento da apanha desregrada destes recursos, principalmente no feriado de sexta-feira santa. Neste dia verifica-se a captura de vários quilos de mexilhão (Mytilus galloprovincialis) por centenas de pessoas, o que provoca invariavelmente profundas perturbações na zona

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“…For the »5 km 2 Königshafen area (on the Island of Sylt, German Wadden Sea), Nehls et al (1997) state 2.5%. For the total of four political parts of the international Wadden Sea (Netherlands, Lower-Saxony, SchleswigHolstein, and Denmark), each covering around 10 3 km 2 of tidal Xats, Dankers et al (2001) list total areas of mussel beds. Before 1980, mussel beds usually covered 1-3% of the tidal Xats, but these proportions declined to »0.5% (or even less in some years) in later years.…”

Section: Long-term Variability In Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some years, this Wshery severely aVected natural mussel beds (Smit et al 1998;Dankers et al 2004). Because re-appearance of new intertidal beds proved to be a slow process (Dankers et al 2001(Dankers et al , 2004, Wshery for shellWsh is by now restricted to subtidal areas. Particularly in the western half of the Dutch Wadden Sea, mussel stocks on tidal Xats remained low for the last 15 years (Steenbergen et al 2005) and nowadays mussel beds are few there (see map 1 in Goudswaard et al (2006)).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability in annual recruitment success as a determinant of long-term and large-scale variation in annual production of intertidal Wadden Sea mussels (Mytilus edulis)

Beukema

Dekker

2007

Helgol Mar Res

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To understand the background of the strong variation and recent decline of stocks and production of mussels (Mytilus edulis) on tidal Xats of the Wadden Sea, we analysed long-term (twice-annual for 26 years) and multi-station (15 sites) estimates of numbers, mean individual weights, biomass, and annual production on Balgzand, a 50-km 2 tidal-Xat area in the westernmost part of the Wadden Sea (The Netherlands). Somatic production was estimated from summed growth increments of soft tissues per half-year period and expressed in ash-free dry mass (AFDM). In adults, positive values in spring/summer regularly alternated with negative values in autumn/winter, when up to »25% (mean: 14%) of individual weight gains in the preceding season were lost. No weight losses were observed during the Wrst winter of the life of mussels. The 26-year mean of net somatic tissue production P amounted to 5.5 g AFDM m ¡2 a ¡1 at a mean biomass B of 3.2 g AFDM m ¡2 ; the ratio P/B varied strongly with age composition of the mussel population and ranged between 0.5 and 3.0 a ¡1 (mean: 1.7). Within the restricted areas of mussel beds, mean biomass and annual production values were two orders of magnitude higher. In the Wadden Sea, mussel beds cover a typical 1% of extensive tidal Xat areas. Numerical densities of recruits showed straight-line relationships with subsequent life-time year-class production. Once recruits had reached an age of »10 months, their numbers predicted subsequent production within narrow limits. Production per recruit averaged 0.21 g AFDM for 10-mo recruits and was not related to recruit density. Local variation in annual production varied strongly, with maximal values between mid-tide and low-tide level, where recruitment was also maximal. Production per recruit was higher at low than at high intertidal levels. Frequently failing recruitment is indicated as the main cause of declining mussel stocks in the Wadden Sea. As in other bivalve species, a declining frequency of the occurrence of cold winters appears to govern declining recruitment success and consequently declining production.

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Recovery of intertidal mussel beds in the Waddensea: use of habitat maps in the management of the fishery

Cited by 17 publications

References 21 publications

Assessment of goods and services, vulnerability, and conservation status of European seabed biotopes: a stepping stone towards ecosystem-based marine spatial management

Assessment of goods and services, vulnerability, and conservation status of European seabed biotopes: a stepping stone towards ecosystem-based marine spatial management

Impact of harvest by humans on mussel populations around Easter

Variability in annual recruitment success as a determinant of long-term and large-scale variation in annual production of intertidal Wadden Sea mussels (Mytilus edulis)

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