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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access originally published online on June 20, 2009
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2009 66(9):1999-2011; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsp169
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© 2009 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Oxford Journals. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

A reanalysis of North Sea plaice spawning-stock biomass using the annual egg production method

Cindy J. G. van Damme1, Loes J. Bolle1, Clive J. Fox2,3, Petter Fossum4, Gerd Kraus5,6, Peter Munk5, Norbert Rohlf6, Peter R. Witthames2 and Mark Dickey-Collas1

1 Wageningen IMARES— Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies, PO Box 68, 1970 AB IJmuiden, The Netherlands
2 Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 OHT, England, UK
3 present address: Scottish Association for Marine Science, Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, Oban, Argyll PA37 1QA, Scotland, UK
4 Institute of Marine Research, PO Box 1870, Nordnes, 5817 Bergen, Norway
5 National Institute of Marine Resources, DK-2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark
6 vTI, Institute for Sea Fisheries, Palmaille 9, 22767 Hamburg, Germany

Correspondence to C. J. G. van Damme: tel: +31 317 487078; fax: +31 317 487326; e-mail: cindy.vandamme{at}wur.nl.

van Damme, C. J. G., Bolle, L. J., Fox, C. J., Fossum, P., Kraus, G., Munk, P., Rohlf, N., Witthames, P. R., and Dickey-Collas, M. 2009. A reanalysis of North Sea plaice spawning-stock biomass using the annual egg production method. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 1999–2011.

Uncertainty about the quality of current virtual population analysis-based stock assessment for North Sea plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) has led to various abundance indices. We compared biomass estimates from the annual egg production (AEP) method with current stock assessments based on catch-at-age to validate the current and historical perception of exploitation. The AEP method was also used to investigate the dynamics of the spatial components of plaice in the North Sea. We corrected for fecundity down-regulation and changes in sex ratio. Estimates from both methods were similar in trend and absolute biomass. On the Dogger Bank, there was a dramatic decline in biomass from 1948 and 1950 to 2004, and in the Southern Bight, the stock appeared to increase from 1987 and 1988 to 2004, although not reaching the historically high levels of 1948 or 1950. The timing of spawning of North Sea plaice does not appear to have changed throughout the period of high exploitation. We conclude that the AEP method is a useful way to hindcast the spatial dynamics of heavily exploited flatfish stocks.

Keywords: annual egg production, down-regulation, fecundity, North Sea, Pleuronectes platessa, spawning-stock biomass

Received 14 August 2008; accepted 8 May 2009; advance access publication 20 June 2009.


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