SISP 15 - Manual of the IBTS North Eastern Atlantic Surveys

This manual was developed through the ICES Working Group of International Pelagic Surveys (WGIPS) as a guide to the methodologies adhered to during the planning, execution and analysis phases of WGIPS coordinated surveys.

The group coordinates 29 individual surveys undertaken in the Northeast Atlantic by nine countries (Ireland, Germany, Scotland, UK (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland), Russian Federation, Norway, Netherlands, Faroe Islands, Denmark and Iceland), accounting for 519 at-sea survey days per annum.

Combined, the group reports on the distribution and age disaggregated abundance of stocks of herring, blue whiting, mackerel, boarfish, sprat, sardine and anchovy to ICES for assessment purposes from 52°N to 74°N and from 30°E to 18°W. In addition to biological data from target species, the group also routinely collects data over a range of environmental parameters both biotic and abiotic.The International Bottom Trawl Survey Working Group is an expert group under ICES with the responsibility of coordinating demersal fisheries surveys within large areas of the North Sea and NE Atlantic.