Climatic variability and decline of Atlantic Iberian Nephrops fisheries

Abstract

Nephrops landings and landings per unit effort from the mixed bottom trawl fishery in the northwest Spain have a marked downward trend since the earliest 90s. Since 2006, a recovery plan has been developed but improvement signs have not been detected up to now, and the fishery shows currently a depleted state. Multiple environmental-related causal mechanisms may interact in this decline other than fishing pressure. Climatic variability of the region was characterized using series (1950-2010) of teleconnection patterns (North Atlantic Oscillation index, Eastern Atlantic index, Scandinavian index and Poleward index). Fishery Nephrops data and climatic series were jointly analyzed. The aim was to indentify relationships between the Nephrops dynamics and the environmental system, and the mechanisms that could have an influence on the biological fluctuations