Effects of bottom fishing on the benthic megafauna of Georges Bank
Marine Ecology Progress Series
By: J.S. Collie, G.A. Escanero, and P. C. Valentine
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Abstract
This study addresses ongoing concerns ever the effects of mobile fishing gear on benthic communities. Using side-scan sonar, bottom photographs and fishing records, we identified a set of disturbed and undisturbed sites on the gravel pavement area of northern Georges Bank in the northwest Atlantic. Replicate samples of the megofauna were collected with a 1 m Naturalists' dredge on 2 cruises in 1994. Compared with the disturbed sites, the undisturbed sites had higher numbers of organisms, biomass, species richness and species diversity; evenness was higher at the disturbed sites. Undisturbed sites were characterized by an abundance of bushy epifaunal taxa (bryozoans, hydroids, worm tubes) that provide a complex habitat for shrimps, polychaetes, brittle stars, mussels and small fish. Disturbed sites were dominated by larger, hard-shelled molluscs, and scavenging crabs and echinoderms. Many of the megafaunal species in our samples have also been identified in stomach contents of demersal fish on Georges Bank; the abundances of at feast some of these species were reduced at the disturbed sites.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Effects of bottom fishing on the benthic megafauna of Georges Bank |
| Series title | Marine Ecology Progress Series |
| DOI | 10.3354/meps155159 |
| Volume | 155 |
| Year Published | 1997 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Inter-Research |
| Contributing office(s) | Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center |
| Description | 14 p. |
| First page | 159 |
| Last page | 172 |
| Other Geospatial | Georges Bank |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |