Working Group on Fisheries Benthic Impact and Trade-offs (WGFBIT; outputs from 2024 meeting)
Correction (11/02/2025): Update to the list of Authors and to the list of Participants
The Working Group on Fisheries Benthic Impact and Trade-offs (WGFBIT) develops methods and assessments to evaluate fisheries’ benthic impact at a regional scale while considering trade-offs between fisheries and seabed health. This report summarizes progress on a European-wide assessment of bottom trawl impacts, presenting the first quantitative evaluation across the Baltic, Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Black Seas. Using indicators of seabed status—RBStot (biomass relative to fauna carrying capacity) and RBSsen (biomass of the 10% most sensitive fauna relative to carrying capacity)—significant regional and habitat differences in bottom trawling impacts were identified. Methods to differentiate between good and degraded states were further refined, including probability-based approaches for seabed condition assessment.
A roadmap was established to implement a Core Fishing Grounds Analysis (CFGA) across all EU marine regions within the 2024–2027 cycle. CFGs aim to balance sustainable fishing and environmental goals by protecting high-value fishing areas. Discussions addressed current limitations of CFGA and guidelines for defining scenarios in trade-off analyses. A preliminary exercise using Atlantic and Mediterranean data explored the effects of varying RBS values on surface area, landing value, fishing effort, and weight. Assuming RBS = 0.8 as the threshold for a "good" condition, the study assessed reductions in exploited areas and fishing efforts needed to meet EU marine targets (D6C5 Adverse Effects on Habitats).
The BFIAT (Bottom Fishing Impact Assessment Tool) model was advanced to predict trawling-induced habitat changes and their impact on biological processes like bioturbation. Case studies in the Celtic Sea, Greek waters, Baltic Sea, and Kattegat utilized datasets linking macrofauna traits to biogeochemical processes under different fishing and hydrodynamic regimes. Outputs from BFIAT are integrated with models like OMEXDIA to evaluate sediment carbon processing and with 3D models (NEMO/SPM-IOW, NEMO-ERSEM) to analyze carbon dynamics and deposition. Future work will examine the impacts of fauna reduction, sediment mixing, and carbon decay on ecosystem processes.
History
Published under the auspices of the following ICES Steering Group or Committee
- HAPISG
Published under the auspices of the following ICES Expert Group or Strategic Initiative
WGFBITSeries
ICES Scientific ReportsVolume
7Issue
18Contributors (Editors)
Jan Geert Hiddink; Marija Sciberras; Tommaso RussoContributors (Authors)
Olivier Beauchard; Andrea Pierucci; Marina Pulcini; Sandrine Vaz; Daniel van Denderen; Wenyan Zhang; Valentina Todorova; Renato Mamede; Marta Rufino; Jochen Depestele; Philip Boulcott; Alessandra Nguyen Xuan; Bianca Di Lorenzo; Clare Bradshaw; Laura Seidel; Marina Penna; Karin van der Reijden; Belén Calero Blanco; Maria Teresa Farriols Garau; Jan Geert Hiddink; Justin Tiano; Gert Van Hoey; Megan Parry; Walter Zupa; Pascal Laffargue; Tommaso Russo; Gabriele Di Bona; Ruth Parker; Lorna McKellar; Josefine Egekvist; Maider Plaza-Morlote; Jose Manuel González Irusta; Karline Soetaert; Mats Blomqvist; Kate Wright; Melanie Hartley; Marija Sciberras; Valeria Mobilia; Amrei Gruender; Cristina Vina-Herbon; Clement Garcia; Valentina Todorova; Ivelina Zlateva; Laurent Markovic; David Clare; Nadia Papadopoulou; Chris Smith; Irini Tsikopoulou; M Cristina Mangano; Louise Brown; Esther Beukhof; Joanna Desmidt; Lucas Porz; John Aldridge; Sebastian Valanko; Henrike Andresen; Lene Buhl-Mortensen; Irini Tsikopoulou; Alice Sbrana; Antonello Sala; Maria Teresa Farriols; Guido Bonthond; Carmen Ferravega; Anna Nora TassettiISSN
2618-1371Recommended citation
ICES. 2025. Working Group on Fisheries Benthic Impact and Trade-offs (WGFBIT; outputs from 2024 meeting). ICES Scientific Reports. 7:18. 90 pp. https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.28351412Publication language
- en