Download Factsheet: The North Sea: a diverse large marine ecosystem

North Sea
case studies
The North Sea:
a diverse large marine ecosystem
VECTORS Fact sheet series
Vectors of change in European Marine
Ecosystems and their Environmental
and Socio-Economic Impacts
The VECTORS project seeks to develop
integrated, multidisciplinary research - based
understanding of changes taking place in our
marine environment, the mechanisms for
them and the ecological impacts expected
from them. VECTORS will examine how
these changes may affect the range of goods
and services provided by the oceans, the
ensuing socio - economic impacts and some
of the measures that could be developed to
reduce or adapt to these changes.
Regional Seas Case Studies
VECTORS studies three regional seas, the
North Sea, Baltic and Western Mediterranean,
as research areas for investigating the impacts
of human activities and how multiple pressures
can have combined and interacting effects
for the marine environment, society and
economy. Within each of the regional seas
several case studies are taking place to allow
more targeted investigation of the causes
and impacts of these pressures in particular
environments. This series of fact sheets
provides an overview of each case study and
the varying scientific approaches used.
This case study investigates the North Sea at the large rather than the local
scale to understand the impacts of combined uses such as windfarms,
aquaculture and Marine Protected Areas and the potential from the latter
both for conservation and fisheries benefits. This includes studying the
different causes of change and the effects that they may have on humans
and society, such as
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What will be the impact of jellyfish outbreaks for tourism and industry?
What is the future for fisheries, how will they be affected by changes to
the foodweb and climate change?
What are the economic repercussions of changes to fisheries?
VECTORS will use computer simulations to better understand the causes
and effects of fluctuations in the numbers and types of organisms living in
the North Sea, in particular the abundance and distribution of commercially
important fish species. The computer models draw on historical data as well
as theoretical principles of ecology and oceanography. Changes related to
foodwebs and climate change play a prominent role in such models.
VECTORS will study the effects of competition between fishermen who
target the same fish species but also the less direct links between fishermen
targeting different fish species who still compete with each other due to
intricate species interactions, such as predator and prey relationships. This
leads not only to interactions between individual fishermen, but to interactions
through the ecosystem and between entire fishing fleets. This implies that
viability and profitability of various fishing activities depend on each other.
VECTORS scientists will study these interactions and their implications for
management of fishing fleets on a North Sea wide scale. Such interactions
between economic activities are not uniquely related to fisheries, but apply
to all activities at sea (such as renewable energy, shipping, recreation). To
facilitate effective management of all these parallel activities, it is essential
to calculate their economic value. In VECTORS, we not only calculate the
economic values, but also study how these values change in relation to
changes in the ecosystem.
A number of highly complex computer models are being applied within
the VECTORS project to try to establish how the North Sea ecosystem
might change over the next 50 to 100 years. Scientists will use a variety
of different techniques to predict how temperature, currents, salinity,
plankton productivity and animal distribution might all be influenced by
future climate change as well as human activities such as fishing pressure,
offshore windfarms and marine nature reserves.
North Sea case studies
Researchers from several EU
countries are working together
to apply a brand new, state-ofthe-art simulation tool called
ATLANTIS, that will be used to
investigate multiple pressures
and how they interact.
Drainage basin
National
boundary
Drivers of change in the North Sea include
shipping, pollution, renewable energy
generation, fishing, aquaculture, sand and
aggregate extraction. These activities can
result in changes in species distribution,
impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem
function and a decrease in fishing revenue,
resources and tourism.
North
Sea
Figure 1. North sea boundary
and drainage basin.
SAN MARINO
Contact
Project coordinator: Mel Austen
Project manager: Jenny Lockett
VECTORS Project Office
VECTORS
V1: Feb 2013
Coordinated by Plymouth Marine Laboratory
[email protected], www.marine-vectors.eu
Why
VECTORS has already established that human activities leading to
climate change and fishing impacts are the most important current
pressures in the North Sea. Some pressures are gaining in importance
both because of increasing impact but also because of improved
methods of assessment and monitoring. These pressures include noise pollution, the effects of marine litter
and contamination by extremely small particles. In addition, there are
newly emerging pressures some of which are easily recognised (marine
renewable energy) and others which are more hypothetical such as the
potential to develop sub-seabed carbon storage.
Fishing is one of the most important pressures on the North Sea.
Where
The greater North Sea is a large marine ecosystem (LME) of north western Europe (Fig. 1). It is relatively shallow
(average depth of 90 m), but also includes deeper areas such as the Norwegian Trench (700 m). The North Sea has a
temperate climate, with a south-north gradient of temperatures and depth, but in general the North Sea and its fringes
are characterised by a high degree of variability, both spatially and temporally. This variability has a strong influence on
biological systems and thus the whole marine ecosystem.
Despite forming a typical LME, the North Sea opens largely to the North East Atlantic in the north and to the English
Channel in the south. Low salinity water arrives from the Baltic through the Kattegat and the Skagerrak, and from the
rivers directly entering the area. This relatively enclosed system shows a complex interaction between the degree of
mixing in the water column, nutrients, light availability and algal abundance and productivity. This interaction and its
natural variability are essential to the availability of different habitats and is thus reflected in the distribution of the sea’s
living resources.
How
Governance has to contribute to spatial planning and accommodate transnational aspects as a means of assessing and
reducing the risks from the way society uses the seas; each use or sector requires management both individually and
in combination. As such VECTORS is focussing on fishing, climate, maritime traffic (related to the movement of alien
species), conservation (including creating Marine Protected Areas), and marine energy (especially windfarms) and the
interactions between these. The governance of the North Sea combines policy, politics, administration and legislation and the many and varied
stakeholders have demands for present controls and management for both present and future problems. Those
stakeholders therefore need an input to deciding likely future conditions and the solution to problems. For example,
the Regional Advisory Committee has been identified as a unique negotiating forum for stakeholders although those will
have to compromise to achieve a fisheries management plan.
The future
While VECTORS is considering future scenarios, the North Sea will require governance which can operate across
national boundaries to give responses to the control of invasive species, the causes and consequences of blooms,
changes to distributions and productivity, the reductions in ecosystem structure and functioning and hence possible
non-compliance with the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive amongst others. This may reduce ecosystem
services and reduce or increase benefits for society which in turn could adversely affect the ecosystem (for example an
increase in tourism will impact on the natural system). Hence there is the need for balancing economic and ecological
aspects.
VECTORS
VECTORS is a European project (26455) supported within
Themes 2, 5, 6 and 7 of the European Commission
Seventh Framework Programme
Author
This fact sheet was written by
Mike Elliot of University of Hull, UK.
E-mail: [email protected]