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This Atlas was initiated as part of Ireland's preparation for the Water Framework Directive (WFD) which, inter alia, required mapping the distribution of mobile fishing gears in coastal waters (inside 1 n mile outside the base lines). The Atlas subsequently expanded the geographical extent of the review out to 12 n miles. The history, descriptive terminology and extent of subdivisions of the territorial sea are provided. The Atlas is a collection of 1,885 polygons showing the distribution of fishing and fishery related activities, including aquaculture and mariculture within the Republic of Ireland's territorial sea and internal marine waters. The Atlas demonstrates that the greatest range and intensity of fishing and related activities are undertaken in the internal waters of the State. Hook and line fishing emerged as the most widely used metier and a combined array of mobile gears, ranging from pelagic otter trawls to hydraulic dredges, took second place. The total area occupied by fishing and fishing related activities was just under 125,000 km2. The principal metier groupings within 12 n miles were: hook and line occupying 57,000 km2 (45% of the total), mobile gears (towed enclosing nets and dredges) accounting for 27,530 km2 (22%). Passive nets (static tangle and gill nets and the now defunct salmon drift nets) made up 18,000 km2 (14%). Pots targeting crustaceans and molluscs occupied 13,250 km2 (11%). Aquaculture and mariculture occupied 172 km2, some 0.4% of the area within 12 n miles. To supplement the polygons, a table of metier and species combinations in internal and territorial waters opposite each county with a long shoreline is supplied. The table includes fisheries whose existence is known but not their extent. The consequences for benthic community structure of the use of a particular metier, the purpose of the exercise for the WFD, are considered. "Community" refers to fish or invertebrate species assemblages. Applications for the data are discussed in the context of a growing appreciation of the need to plan the use of inshore waters for fishery conservation and to accommodate a wide range of stakeholder interests and to embrace the ecosystem approach to maritime governance. Difficulties inherent in conserving fish species rather than biological communities are illustrated by reference to a case history. Data presented in the document were sourced from the tacit knowledge of stakeholders. Planning jurisdiction in the Republic of Ireland is described with reference to inshore waters. Recent thinking by fishery commentators is reviewed. Finally, current thinking on inshore spatial planning within the EU and particularly among our nearest neighbours is discussed and the possibility of implementing ICZM is briefly considered. This document is presented as Version 1 of a continuing exercise. Governmental departmental arrangements and collected data refer to the period up to 2006. The Atlas should be periodically revised as more information becomes available., Funder: Marine Institute

The necessity of improving knowledge in fisheries and especially small-scale coastal fisheries in order to analyse the conditions for their sustainable development is increasingly recognized. The three main requirements for the sustainable development of fisheries are the simultaneous present and future well being of the bio-ecological system, the human system and the management process. Knowledge on these aspects of small-scale coastal fisheries (SSCF) in Europe is generally limited, although there has been an improvement in information on the fishing sector and inshore marine resources due to the EU Data Collection Regulations (DCR) 1. SSCF are strongly represented in all EU Member States (81% and 87% of the EU 25 whole fleet is composed of vessels less than 12 and 15 meters respectively)2 and approximately 100,000 crew are involved in SSCF in Europe. SSCF are present all around the European coast, even in isolated and sensitive areas.

Observations of daily “absence-from-port” patterns and indications of gears used were carried out on 147 vessels ranging from 5 to 13 m overall length, between April 2006 and March 2007 at three ports in west, southwest and southern Ireland. The vessels numbered approximately 6% of the total national fleet and they were larger than the average length of boats observing a daily working “absence-from-port” pattern. Fishing gears belonged to one of five categories: shellfish dredges, nets, hook and line, pots and otter trawl. More than half of the vessels observed did not carry any indication of fishing gear; 46 % had evidence of using one gear and 3% showed signs of using two. Activity (absence) patterns were low, ranging between 14 and 42 % of week-days on which observations were made. The annual pattern of gear usage described by BIM in 1999 was not apparent in any of the three ports. Instead, the local availability of fishing opportunities was influential in deciding which methods predominated. In only one port was there a marked seasonal activity pattern. Visible signs of vessel registration were similar to the situation in 2002., Funder: Marine Institute

Observations are presented on two whelk populations from the Cape grounds in Co. Donegal and the vicinity of Helvic Head Co. Waterford. Both co-exist with large populations of brown crab (Cancer pagurus) which is the likely explanation for their thick shells. In the south west Irish Sea (with which comparison is made) and in the Cape stocks, 83-88% of individuals were easily aged by reference to the operculum. Heavy calcification obscured structure in the case of Helvic animals and only 6% of these could be confidently aged. Helvic and south west Irish Sea whelk have similar L∞, but both Helvic and Cape whelk have more rapid early growth than in the Irish Sea. The density of whelk in the Helvic vicinity is insufficient to support a commercial fishery. The yield of whelk from other areas of the Celtic Sea is sporadic and slow to recover from exploitation. The Cape fishery shows signs of rapid depletion since most recent exploitation began there in 2003. The centrally situated sectors of the south west Irish Sea fishery are highly resilient and recover rapidly from heavy removals of biomass which can exceed 50% per annum. Maturation appears to take place at a lower size and age in the Irish Sea than in the other two whelk stocks and this is tentatively proposed as the explanation for their lower productivity., Funder: Marine Institute

A cockle fishery in Dundalk Bay has been infrequently documented since 1970. Cockle bearing sands and muds are 44.5 km2 in extent. The bay, which is in an SPA and a cSAC also supports large numbers of overwintering birds, of particular relevance is the oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus). In 2003 and 2004 when an assessment of the fishery was undertaken, cockles ranged from 0 to 8+ years of age, but the vast majority were 0 and 1+ animals. Growth was rapid and 53% of asymptotic length (49.1 mm) was achieved at the first winter. In agreement with observations elsewhere, the density of the rapidly growing animals was very low. The estimated cockle biomass in spring 2004 was 1,654 tonnes comprising 143 million animals. A survey undertaken in spring 2004, suggested that spat falls contributing to the population may not have been evenly distributed throughout the Bay. Condition factor in 2003 and 2004 did not conform to an expected seasonal pattern, suggesting that some parts of the area supported better growth rates than others. Cockle landings from this fishery are of good quality. Cockle size is at the upper end of the range in Britain and Ireland and the majority of individuals landed by suction dredging were 1+ years old. Raked landings contained more 2+ cockles than suction-dredged ones. Damage to cockles discarded by suction dredging followed the pattern reported elsewhere and damage rates increased with the size of the animals. Some cockle landings have probably always been made in Dundalk Bay by picking and raking, but 2001 marked the beginning of an expansion of the dredge fishery, whose landings exceeded 200 tonnes in 2004. The necessity for controls and management of this fishery in the context of EU legislation and particularly within the constraints of the Habitats Directive is briefly examined., Funder: Marine Institute

The whelk fishery of the southwest Irish Sea had a turnover of approximately €18 million and employed 250 people directly and indirectly in catching and processing in 2003. In the nine years, 1995-2003 inclusive, whelk landings to Ireland from the southwest Irish Sea fluctuated between 3,800 and almost 10,000 tonnes(t) per year; from an estimated 5,000 – 15,000 boat-days annually. A collapse in landings was recorded in 1997 and again in the spring of 2004. The fishery is divided for assessment purposes into four sectors, the central two consisting largely of nursery area and the north and south extremities of the fishery populated by more older, larger and mature whelk. Logbooks were not completed by fishermen participating in this fishery which was, in theory, managed by size limit, but the regulations were not enforced. Boats fishing whelk made daily fishing trips and daily weights recorded by processors were used to estimate biomass in each of the sectors by depletion regressions. Total biomass fluctuated between 12,720 t in 1999 and 37,319 t in 2002. The estimates based on a full season’s landings are used to compare the fishery from one year to the next and to supply weighting factors for other parameters of the population. Exploitation rates were lowest in one of the central sectors of the fishery (where they averaged 27% annually). At the southern extremity they averaged 39%. Depletion estimates based on landings records from approximately April to 15 June provided higher exploitation rates and lower biomass. The mortality coefficient Z, calculated from a catch curve, peaked in two years, 1998 and 2002, as did an index of recruitment. The age at full recruitment declined after 2000. Throughout nine years of documented history, one of the central sectors of the fishery assumed progressively greater dominance over the others, providing 77% of the landings from the entire fishery to its ports in 2003. Some sectoral changes to the whelk population may be irreversible: the oldest animals have been removed from the northern extremity of the fishery and while the whelks which are exploited at the southern end between 2000 and 2003 were similar in size to those exploited in the mid-1990s, their tonnage between 1999 and 2003 decreased from 47 to 4% of the landings in 1995. A substantial recruitment in 2001 or 2002 was followed by an increase in fishing effort of 42% between 2002 and 2003 and this is identified as the reason for the collapse in 2004., Funder: Marine Institute

A 27 year LPUE series was compiled from daily landings and creel numbers fished, as reported by a processor and by personnel participating in the activities of a small inshore fleet at Malin Head, Co. Donegal. The fleet targeted brown crab in the late summer and autumn months and the series was compared with two other series of LPUE constructed from data obtained from two fleet sources fishing the same stock. The most significant event to have taken place since records commenced in the late 1970s was the introduction in the 1990s of a small vivier offshore crabbing fleet. Competition between the inshore and offshore components intensified and the inshore fleet responded by further capitalising and increasing its seaward range. Since the mid-1980s the number of boats in the Malin Head inshore fleet pursuing the autumn fishery halved while the total amount of gear increased by 29%. The number of pots set by a vessel in a day averaged 600 in 2004 but in 2000 the practice of fishing two sets of gear simultaneously became established. The vivier boats also moved inshore and the ranges of the two fleets now overlap. In the past 15 years there was a loss of between 37 and 57% LPUE, according to the data assembled in this work. Schaefer analyses carried out on the inshore Malin Head fleet’s results and extended to cover the estimated landings of the Donegal inshore fleet, indicate that maximum sustainable yield was almost reached and that the F0.1 point was exceeded by both fleets. Any additional increase in F is likely to further accelerate decline in LPUE. The stock is regarded as being close to over-fished in a regime without effective effort controls. The problems associated with managing a fishery of this kind are briefly discussed., Funder: Marine Institute

Lipids are produced, transported, and recognized by the concerted actions of numerous enzymes, binding proteins, and receptors. A comprehensive analysis of lipid molecules, "lipidomics," in the context of genomics and proteomics is crucial to understanding cellular physiology and pathology; consequently, lipid biology has become a major research target of the postgenomic revolution and systems biology. To facilitate international communication about lipids, a comprehensive classification of lipids with a common platform that is compatible with informatics requirements has been developed to deal with the massive amounts of data that will be generated by our lipid community. As an initial step in this development, we divide lipids into eight categories (fatty acyls, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, sterol lipids, prenol lipids, saccharolipids, and polyketides) containing distinct classes and subclasses of molecules, devise a common manner of representing the chemical structures of individual lipids and their derivatives, and provide a 12 digit identifier for each unique lipid molecule. The lipid classification scheme is chemically based and driven by the distinct hydrophobic and hydrophilic elements that compose the lipid. This structured vocabulary will facilitate the systematization of lipid biology and enable the cataloging of lipids and their properties in a way that is compatible with other macromolecular databases.

The south east inshore brown crab fishery is delimited by the boundary of longitude - 6.3, within a coastal band of approximately 18 km (10 nm) in width and it extends along the south coast of Co Wexford for a distance of approximately 55 km; evidence for the stock extending into the inshore fishery west of the Waterford Harbour estuary is sparse. The fishery, whose maximum extent is calculated at 427 km2, yielded up to 700 t per year during the 1990s. In 2002 annual landings of 959 t accounted for 8.2 % of the national catch. The average overall LPUE was 0.87 kg per pot lifted in that year. Brown crab were landed whole or as claws, for human consumption, and clawed or, of poorer quality, with claws, to provide bait for the whelk fishery. This fishery is not considered to have any discard of legally sized crab and, in consequence, a large percentage of the landings is poorly conditioned. The stock is intensively fished; the amount of gear in use increased almost 5 fold since the mid 1970s. Landings per boat declined since the late 1980s although this may be as a result of sharing among a greater number of vessels. In 2002 an estimated 60 - 69 vessels fished brown crab in the peak autumn months. In 2002 and early 2003, 3,674 crabs were tagged in the inshore fishery; of these 14.4% were recaptured (12.8% of tagged females and 20.7% of tagged males). Observations made during tagging operations in 2002 only were used to clarify sex ratio and the incidence of recently moulted animals. The crab stock consists of a migratory female component which moves into shallow waters during the summer months probably to moult and mate. The male component is more sedentary. Both sexes move at speeds which slow during the summer months and increase again as the year advances; maximum speeds of 2 km/day were recorded for both sexes in the autumn. Movements by male crab were random while females adopted a south west trajectory. The greatest distance recorded for a tagged female crab was 136 km after 287 days at liberty. Other tagged females, reported by French vessels, were recaptured in ICES division VIIg which may be the over-wintering area for the stock. These animals had moved between 69 and 75 km from their release point. Tag reporting by the industry is considered to have been low. Based on the 'rate of tag recovery, the estimated rate of exploitation was lower than expected in an intensely fished stock. Population estimates were attempted using the Petersen formula and on the basis of assumptions about mortalities which recognized the phenomena of moulting and migration. The south east crab stock moves with the current which is westerly along the southern Irish coast. Recorded migrations were also short when compared with those of brown crab in the northern stock and in several other documented fisheries. The Nymphe Bank which adjoins the south east fishery has a water current pattern which retains larvae and it is known to have a high density of brown crab in the plankton. The existence of retaining currents may make the kind of long migrations which characterise others unnecessary for this stock. The status of the south east fishery is not known. LPUE indices provided by the Roscoff super-crabber fleet for ICES statistical division VIIg remained fairly stable between 1987 and 2002 but the quantity of crab captured by those vessels has declined considerably in most years since 1995., Funder: Marine Institute

Surf clams from seven stocklets on the west and south coasts are examined to provide a preliminary account of the fishery in Ireland. Spisula solida is the species harvested in every case. Most of the material was collected by commercial (box or hydraulic) dredge. A quantitative account of a surf clam bed is based on sampling by Day grab in Waterford Harbour. Ageing was by external shell sculpture. A limited comparison of this method with ageing by internal shell structure confirmed the method was usable and the results are presented on this basis with, however, reservations on the reliability of the approach. S. solida in Ireland had Linf of c 43 cm. Material gathered in Clifden, Co Galway, had an Linf of 35 mm. The Clifden stocklet was heavily fished when the material was gathered and a low value for Linf is attributed to the Lee phenomenon. A growth curve is constructed for only one stocklet, that in Waterford Harbour. Growth was slower than for S. solida in the North Sea, a possible consequence of heavy fishing also. The clam bed in Waterford Harbour was a low elevation bank of coarse (Spisula) sand. The area of the bed had become reduced during the preceding year by the invasion of silt grades displaced by earthworks upstream; these were injected into the coarse material to form a perimeter of the clam patch. Within the bed, the highest biomass of S. solida was 600 g/sq.m. Representation of age frequencies within samples suggests that heavy spatfalls of S. solida occur at irregular intervals and this complicates the calculation of F values from a catch curve. A yield per recruit curve is prepared for the clam patch in Waterford Harbour., Funder: Marine Institute

The shellfish co-operative, Comharchuman Sliogéisc Chonamara Teó (CSC) manages oyster and scallop in Beirtreach buí and Cill Chiaráin Bays, both of which are designated aquaculture areas. Cill Chiaráin is also a candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC). Various traditional fishing activities are carried on in the bays and CSC has rights to exploit clam species there. The work described here is a survey of interstitial clam species by hydraulic dredge between November 2001 and January 2002. Investigations were restricted from some of the upper bay areas where surface bivalve management was in progress. Much of the remaining areas within the Bays proved unsuitable for hydraulic dredging by virtue of the nature of the substratum. The exposed parts of the lower bays and the intervening coastline where the substratum was coarse sand (maërl or shell sand) were suitable for hydraulic dredging but bedrock and loose boulders often proved obstacles to towing. There was evidence of two assemblages of bivalves in the bays: one typified by Venus verrucosa, Venerupis senegalensis and Tapes rhomboides, all large and potentially valuable, occurred within maërl mixed with fine mud, the other whose most valuable components included Ensis arcuatus and Spisula solida, occurred in disintegrating maërl and in shell sand. The bivalve fauna in the two bays appeared to be typified by relatively high diversity and low biomass – which is accentuated by recent natural mortalities of Ensis arcuatus, a dominant species - and this is likely to prove a challenge to marketing; the Irish market typically exploits small numbers of clam species simultaneously. The terms of the licence under which CSC operates may provide opportunities to exploit clams within their designated area by means other than hydraulic dredging and these should be investigated. In view of the scientific values of the area and its status as a cSAC any plan to exploit its interstitial bivalves should be discussed with the relevant state agency., Funder: Marine Institute

The Codling Bank is an important contributor to the south west Irish Sea whelk fishery; a large proportion of the whelk population there are juveniles. Traditionally, whelks have been harvested ungraded from this area. Fishing trials were undertaken on the Codling Bank in May 2001 to ascertain the consequences for the whelk fishery of aggregate removal by suction dredging during the previous winter months. The results suggested some localised diminution in CPUE in the vicinity of dredging operations four months after the event. However, it is not feasible to conclusively attribute the reduction to dredging operations.

Although it is regarded as an important focus of brown crab Cancer pagurus landings, the fishery in south east Ireland is poorly documented and the official statistics are believed to under-record the species by a factor of 2-3. This appraisal of the south east Ireland brown crab fishery is based on >22,000 records of sales transactions from the 1990s and a comparison of the biological characteristics of landings in the late 1960s with thirty years later, in the context of increasing fishing effort. The three buyers who gave access to their books inwards for periods of the 1990s, purchase from the same fishing community and they compete for product but they occupy slightly different market niches: a vivier truck operator exports to Spain, a processor concentrates on autumn purchases of female crab for vacuum packing while the third buys crab claws for human consumption and crab bodies which are used as bait for whelk Buccinum undatum. Only the first sales of crab from 55 km of coastline are considered. In this area fishing effort doubled between 1972 and 1988 but expansion accelerated in the following decade by at least 128%; a single operator increased his effort by 80% between 1988 and 1998. In the 30 years after 1968, the number of pots per km of coastline rose by 241%.The sale of brown crab is recorded in consignments which are raised to live weights in the analysis. Consignment size fell steeply in the late 1980s and early 1990s after which it stabilised; adjusting the figures to allow for increasing effort accentuated the trend; at the same time consignment number rose. Allowing that a decline in consignment size was accompanied by an increase in pot number, consignment number should have risen by 310% to maintain landings at the level recorded in 1990; the largest recorded increase in consignment number was by 230% and while it is accepted that all sales transactions have not been obtained, it is likely that LPUE has been declining over the 1990s in real terms in this fishery. Increasing fishing effort during that time is seen as a product of better technology, stimulated by a desire to compensate for falling LPUE. Comparison of size and sex composition of the landings recorded in the late 1960s and the late 1990s are inconclusive. Depth of water and type of substratum are likely to influence the composition of inshore landings. An argument is presented that the south east inshore crab fishery is fully or over-exploited. It is likely to have an offshore component and such occasional data as are available on brown crab further south suggest that the offshore is an under-exploited fishery. In which case, the rate of interchange between the two components is likely to be crucial to the continued performance of the inshore fishery, Funder: Marine Institute

Samples of razor clams, Ensis arcuatus, the species which makes up the majority of landings from the west coast of Ireland, were collected by commercial fishery methods, in association with the dredge fishery and by scuba diving, from three locations off the coast of Co Galway. E. arcuatus occupies coarse sand (of maerl and shell fragments) and rarely co-exists with the other common species of the region, E. siliqua. E. arcuatus were aged, an age-length-key devised for them, and growth parameters (Linf, k and t0) were calculated. Their maturation state was established by histological examination. Evidence suggests that Ensis arcuatus is mainly a spring spawner, although some spawning appears to take place in most months, with a spatfall in June/July. Maturation commences in its third year. Asymptotic length is achieved at 10 years, approximately, and there was little variability in growth among the three sampling areas or between the sexes. In a small bed of razor clams in Cill Chiarain Bay, Co Galway, there would appear to have been a spatfall in most, if not all, of the past 15 years. The quantitative distribution of E. arcuatus in a single bay within the boundaries of Comharchuman Sliogeisc Chonamara Teo, Co Galway, was estimated by divers salting quadrats of 0.33 m2. The razor clam community is divided into a generally distributed fraction occurring at low density (described as the non-bed) and at a relatively higher density (described as the clam bed). The bed was situated in the lee of reefs, which is usually the case for this species along the Atlantic seaboard. More than 90% of the biomass was above the E.U. minimum size limit., Funder: Marine Institute

A pot fishery directed on spider crab (Maja squinado) grew out of a mixed tangle net and pot fishery for large crustaceans in the early 1980s. Approximately twenty half decked vessels of 10m in length have been involved for the duration of the fishery but the numbers of pots per vessel has increased; currently 10,000 pots are set for spider crab in Tralee and Brandon Bays during the summer months. Cpue rose initially during the early years of the fishery, then it stabilised and declined although in the late 1990s it again recovered somewhat. Sampling in 2000 suggests that the size composition of the catch has altered since the early years of the fishery, its main consequence being the removal of the older age groups so that the landings now consist almost entirely of a single year class. Aspects of the biology of the Maja squinado are compared with what is already known of the species and a number of recommendations are made for the future management of the fishery. These include a further increase in the size limit, a ban on tangle nets and a cap on fishing effort., Funder: Marine Institute

Whelk landings in the southwest Irish Sea increased from 56 t in 1990 to 6,575 t in 1996 after which they stabilized between 3,600 and 4,600 t annually. At its peak the fishery supported approximately 80 vessels but this number has halved since. In 1994 a size limit of 50 mm was introduced for conservation purposes. Age based assessments of the landings were carried out in 1994, 1996, 1997 and 1999, for which purpose the fishery, ranging from 52º10’ to 53º30’, is divided into four sectors. Landings to the four sectors display biological characteristics which indicate the occurrence of a number of stocklets rather than a single stock unit. Whelk in the south west Irish Sea are relatively thin shelled and the fishery has a low density of large crustacean predators. There is no evidence of contamination by TBT. The northern and southern ends of the fishery have relatively lower densities of larger/older animals; the centre sectors have smaller whelk of shorter life span at higher densities, some of them showing symptoms of a Lee phenomenon and slower growth. A survey of cpue places heaviest densities on the Codling and Rusk Banks, in strong tidal currents, at depths of < 20 m. Growth and maturation rates vary among stocklets. L∞ ranges from 102 to 116 mm. Length at 50% male maturation is usually within the range of 63 – 68 mm and ages of 6.1-7.2 years although landings to one sector have a 50% male maturation rate of 83 mm and 8.5 years of age. The existing size limit of 50 mm would, at best, afford protection to 40% of spawning males. Compliance with the size limit has been poor. From 20 to 33% of total landings in any of the assessed years have been less than the legal limit and in 1994 51% of landings in one sector were below the acceptable size. Trends in cpue have been monitored since 1990 and some areas do not show any marked tendency. On the contrary, some fishermen in the centre sectors improved their yield between 1994 and 1998. There are two explanations for this: the movement of pots onto virgin ground and the fact that fewer fishermen are competing for landings in the same areas. Whelk have responded to a reduction in fishing effort since 1996 immediately following which mortality coefficients (Z) were highest (0.79); they declined to an average 0.61 in 1999. In terms of yield per recruit however they remain high. The southern sector of the fishery is regarded as being most depleted although very few subsize limit whelks were caught there. The survival of the whelk fishery in the southwest Irish Sea is attributed to the instability of the market which is dominated by a single customer, South Korea. A more effective size limit for this fishery would be 68mm (83 mm in the northern sector) and this is considered unrealistic, suggesting that alternative management measures will have to be considered., Funder: Marine Institute

Investigative work was undertaken in 1996 to ascertain the strength of sea bass stocks following the introduction of a range of conservation measures which effectively extinguished the legitimate commercial fishery for the species. Information was sought from two sources: estimation of the age composition of the samples and the growth of bass by examining scales from exploited fish. An estimate of the density of juvenile pre-recruit bass was made from a seine net survey undertaken in various estuaries along the south coast. Scales sent in by anglers and obtained through the regional boards from illegally netted fish indicate that a high proportion of bass landed between 1996 and 1998 belonged to the 1989-year class, which had been reported to be exceptionally large in Britain. Back-calculations of length-at-age from the scales of these and seine-netted bass suggested that growth improved in the later 1980s in response to higher sea temperatures but has since declined. Work on an index of juvenile abundance began with 59 seine net hauls made in August 1996 and 1997. On these the areas most likely to support bass were characterised; O-group bass were encountered more frequently than any other age group. Sites most likely to support bass were mud flats overlaid with shallow and still water which had a salinity range of 17 to 22% and bass were associated with certain species of estuarine fish and crustaceans; bass were negatively associated with other species occupying the deeper and more sandy parts of estuaries. Sampling stations for O-group bass have been selected in Youghal Harbour and Wexford Harbour. Further exploratory work is required to extend the list of stations. It was concluded that there has been a temporary increase in the numbers of sea bass, as has been reported by fishermen in Ireland, as a result of more favourable temperatures in the late 1980s. Growing conditions appeared to have deteriorated in the later 1990s and the summer growth ofO-group bass was the weakest in 1999 over the 4 years investigated. A time series of O-group abundance is too brief to permit any conclusions to be reached. However, it can be stated that the recorded densities of juvenile bass between 1996 and 1999 were sparser than would be expected in south east Ireland in view of the supposed heavy winter concentrations of the species in the Celtic Sea., Funder: Marine Institute

Five mesh sizes were used to sample shrimp Palaemon serratus at depths of less than 30 m in Bantry Bay, southwest Ireland from June 1996 to March 1997. All of the meshes, with the exception of the smallest (2.5 mm) were made up of polyethylene and they were distributed over a gang of 20 Chinesehat-ended creels which were fished on fourteen occasions throughout the period which overlapped with the commercial fishing season. Some 5,000 shrimp were captured and the size distribution of the total catch per month reflected the growth of the species so it is supposed that the population was representatively sampled throughout. Selection was calculated using the alternate hauls method. Shrimps did not enter the pots in any numbers below the length of 50 mm (total length) and mesh selection could not he demonstrated at a mesh size of 5.2 mm. Thereafter, as the mesh sizes were ascended, selectivity became more significant. It was however weak; Lc values ranged between 58-75 mm for females and 71-88 mm total lengths for males for mesh sizes of 7.5 - 13.5 mm. These lengths coincide with the centre of the length frequency distribution of shrimp. As the mesh size increased, the ratio of females to males rose, but the numbers per haul declined abruptly in the 13.5 mm mesh., Funder: Marine Institute

Palaemon serratus is at the northern limit of its range in the British Isles. In Ireland it is most abundant in the southwest where it has been commercially fished since the mid-1970s. Landings in recent years have averaged between 200 and300 tonnes annually with an estimated export value of £2—3 m. These landings represent a three-fold expansion over those of the previous decade. The biology of the species was investigated over a 12 month period in Bantry Bay using commercial gear. At most times of the year there is a bimodal length frequency distribution and the life expectancy is interpreted as 2 years. Condition factor does not vary much during the year in males and immature females but the larger females put on up to 30% weight in the autumn. The reproductive cycle in Bantry resembles that in the south of England rather than that in north Wales, these two locations providing earlier studies of the species. The largest females come into berry in October and egg carriage within the population continues into the following summer; in May, a second group of smaller females, belonging to the 0 age group, carries eggs. Corroborative evidence for this interpretation is provided by the size of the ova and their developmental state. There would appear to be an influx of shrimp to Bantry Bay which builds up from May and declines after January but cohort and gender migrations are unclear. Catch per unit of fishing effort (cpue) is estimated from the weight of a consignment of shrimp delivered to a processor. Such data are variable but they are also consistent and stable over the short-term and throughout the range of shrimp fisheries. A time series from 1977 to 1994 suggests a 36% decline; the significance of this is not known. Shrimp fishing takes place during the autumn and winter months. In the southeast landings are taken throughout the year but those outside the period August to January, inclusive, do not exceed 8% of the total. In the southwest only 3% of landings are made outside these months, while in Connemara none was reported Mechanical grading in the factory is explored as a means of reconstructing age profiles. Two patterns of exploitation are described: that of the southwest and southern coast has a larger proportion of 0 group shrimp which may reach 40% by numbers of the total landings; in Connemara the proportion of 0 group shrimp is much smaller. Attempts are made to find some method of predicting aspects of the catch from biological and sea temperature data. There is a suggestion that a large brood year is influential in producing a successor whose size is estimated 2 years later. The sustainability of the shrimp fishery is unknown and two precautionary measures are suggested as the basis of a management regime: enlarging the mesh size to improve the exploitation pattern and limiting the fishing season., Funder: Marine Institute

A small occasional fishery for whelk in the southern Irish Sea expanded in the early 1990s, particularly in 1993, to provide meat for the Far East. Between 1990 and 1993 the weight of whelk delivered by a fisherman to factory per day remained stable but the fishing effort increased by 44%. The quality of landings declined, increasing proportions of smaller whelk being retained. The most heavily fished populations apparently display a Lee effect. An age at length key was prepared from 3,081 individuals and is used to transform length to age frequencies within the area of interest. The weight compositions of graded samples, abstracted from processors' financial accounts, were converted to population numbers. The age of full recruitment is reckoned to be five years over the area of interest although it may fall to four in the most intensely fished whelk patches. A Thompson-Bell yield per recruit curve has Fmax at F=0.3. Only one fishery, at the northern fringes of the fishing area, has an F value (read from the catch curve) of less than this. F values of fisheries at the centre and south of the exploited area are all situated on the negative slope of the yield per recruit curve. Male maturation occurs at a length of 70 - 80 mm in the least and 50 mm in the most exploited populations. Thus, a measure to protect broodstock would require a size limit of approximately 70 - 80 mm which would, coincidentally, approximate the size for maximum sustainable yield. It would also have a catastrophic effect on the existing fisheries. A size limit of 50 mm is already in force.

The development of the hake fishery in the ICES Divisions adjoining Ireland displays strong similarities to the fishery for megrim; Ireland's landings of hake rose from 100t per year in 1979 to 2,000t ten years later. Most hake comes from Divisions Vllg-k. The Communities Logbook of the Irish-Spanish joint venture fleet provides a short time series. CPUE by both demersal trawl and long line declined sharply between 1985 and 1991. The second quarter is the most productive of hake landings but otherwise there is no clear seasonal pattern. Hake were sampled on a half yearly basis and the fish were aged on the otoliths with a success rate of 70%. Ages in the first half were adjusted to a birth date of 1 January. Mean lengths at age were higher than those calculated by statistical methods (Normsep.). Length frequencies indicated two age groups in the discards. Methods of capturing hake have altered over the past five years, gill nets have increased their share of the Irish catch and, in 1991, were a close second to demersal trawl. Age of recruitment to the landings is 2-4 years. Discard hake was calculated at 25-163% by weight of landings per quarter in 1991, higher values coming from small-meshed nets targeting Nephrops. Survivorship curves based on aged length frequencies of hake taken by whitefish boats provided F values of between 0.40 and 0.76. These results are high and together with sharply declining CPUE would seem to suggest the part of the stock in Divisions Vllb-c and Vllg-k is more heavily fished than the stock in other parts of Sub-area VII., Funder: Marine Institute

The formation in 1979 of the joint venture (Irish-Spanish) fishing fleet, Eiranova, introduced to the industry in Ireland a range of target species and fishing grounds on which the Irish demersal fishery has subsequently expanded. From the second quarter of 1985 the European Communities' Logbook has provided a format on which landings and details of fishing effort have been recorded. This leaflet reviews the catches of various species per effort expended by joint venture demersal trawl and long-lining vessels for the eight years documented by the Logsheets. The high value components of the trawl fishery are the prime fish (hake, monkfish and megrim) which are exported fresh to Spain. Hake is the principal target of long-liners. The fishery is concentrated in ICES statistical Divisions VIIb and VIIj. Since 1985, the CPUE of all species has declined by 39% and the trend in prime fish landings runs in parallel with this, mainly because of the reduction in hake landings. CPUE indices for all other species which are consistently recorded are given. Some comparisons are made among CPUE indices in Divisions VIlb, j and adjoining areas. However, these indices depend much on the exploited size range of a target species and the area in which fishing effort is concentrated and the bulk of the data are presented without further comment. A brief glossary of Spanish terminology is appended.

An assessment of megrim captured by Irish and joint venture (Spanish) vessels in Divisions Vll b, c, j, k is based on landings from both fleets and discards from Irish vessels targeting whitefish and Nephrops. Fishing activity by the joint venture fleet is centred on the 200m depth contour. Megrim CPUE has declined since 1985. Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis constitutes the majority of the landings by joint venture vessels; L. boscii amounts up to 2% by weight of the landings from deeper waters. In catches of undersized megrim, L. boscii was 12% of the total. Landings of L. whiffiagonis have similar length frequency distributions in the Irish inshore and joint venture fleets. There are indications of what may be seasonal abundance in the discards and landings of Irish vessels fishing inshore. Discards were calculated as 77% of landed weight in the first half of the year and 31% in the second. Megrim with an inshore provenance were slightly larger than those coming from deeper waters. The following growth parameters were calculated: L∞ = 51.2cm, k = 0.17 and to = -0.97. A catch curve derived from the combined landed and discarded megrim has a value of Z = 0.45, slightly less than the value calculated for the inshore Irish fleet (0.49). F is consequently in much the same position as in the 1989-90 assessment, on the negative slope of the yield per recruit curve., Funder: Marine Institute