Assessing the impact of trawling on benthic megafauna: comparative study of video surveys vs. scientific trawling

Type Article
Date 2021-08
Language English
Author(s) Jac CyrielleORCID1, Desroy NicolasORCID2, Duchêne Jean-Claude3, Foveau AurelieORCID2, Labrune Céline4, Lescure Lyvia4, Vaz SandrineORCID1
Affiliation(s) 1 : MARBEC, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Sète, Ifremer, IRD, France
2 : Laboratoire Environnement et Ressource Bretagne nord, Ifremer, F-35800 Dinard, France
3 : Universityé de Bordeaux 1, CNRS, UMR 5805 EPOC, Station Marine d'Arcachon, 2 rue du Pr Jolyet, Arcachon F-33120, France
4 : Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d’Ecogéochimie des Environnements Benthiques, LECOB UMR 8222, Banyuls-sur-Mer F-66650, France
Source Ices Journal Of Marine Science (1054-3139) (Oxford University Press (OUP)), 2021-08 , Vol. 78 , N. 5 , P. 1636-1649
DOI 10.1093/icesjms/fsab033
WOS© Times Cited 7
Keyword(s) functional sensitivity indices, mega-epifauna, sampling methods, trawling effect, video
Abstract

Most studies about benthic community use small-scale sampling methods focused on the infauna such as grabs or box-corers. The benthic data collected by scientific trawl surveys in all European waters, in the frame of the Common Fishery Policy Data Collection Multiannual Program, can be used to study the impact of large-scale fisheries such as trawling. However, the catchability of trawls is very dependent on the nature of the seabed as well as resulting ground-gear adaptations. Due to its non-destructive nature and its ability to focus on benthic macro-epifauna, towed video sampling appears to be a good alternative to monitor the impact of trawling on benthic communities. In the present work, we studied the influence of fishery induced seabed abrasion and video characteristics on nine indices, which can be used to monitor the effect of trawling on benthic communities, was studied. Among them, three indices specific to fishery effect detection based on biological traits appeared to be the best performing benthic indices with video data: modified-Trawling Disturbance Index, partial-Trawling Disturbance Index, and modified sensitivity index. The effectiveness of these indices to monitor the effect of trawling was evaluated and compared between trawl and video sampling. This work has highlighted that video sampling could be a good alternative, or at least a complementary method, to scientific trawling to monitor the effect of trawling on benthic communities in European waters.

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How to cite 

Jac Cyrielle, Desroy Nicolas, Duchêne Jean-Claude, Foveau Aurelie, Labrune Céline, Lescure Lyvia, Vaz Sandrine (2021). Assessing the impact of trawling on benthic megafauna: comparative study of video surveys vs. scientific trawling. Ices Journal Of Marine Science, 78(5), 1636-1649. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsab033 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00689/80143/