Document of bibliographic reference 228600

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Book chapters

BibLvlCode

AM

Title

Residency, site fidelity and habitat use of Atlantic cod

Abstract

Because offshore wind energy development is fast growing in Europe it is important to investigate the changes in the marine environment and how these may influence local biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. One of the species affected by these ecosystem changes is Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), a heavily exploited, commercially important fish species. In this research we investigated the residency, site fidelity and habitat use of Atlantic cod on a temporal scale at windmill artificial reefs in the Belgian part of the North Sea. Acoustic telemetry was used and the Vemco VR2W position system was deployed to quantify the movement behaviour. In total, 22 Atlantic cod were tagged and monitored for up to one year. Many fish were present near the artificial reefs during summer and autumn, and demonstrated strong residency and high individual detection rates. When present within the study area, Atlantic cod also showed distinct habitat selectivity. We identified aggregation near the artificial hard substrates of the wind turbines. In addition, a clear seasonal pattern in presence was observed. The high number of fish present in summer and autumn alternated with a period of very low densities during the winter period

Bibliographic citation

Reubens, J. (2013). Residency, site fidelity and habitat use of Atlantic cod, in: Reubens, J. The ecology of benthopelagic fish at offshore wind farms: Towards an integrated management approach = De ecologie van benthopelagische vis bij offshore windmolens: Naar een geïntegreerd beheer van de zee. pp. 71-86

Topic

Marine