The Greencastle Codling Bank, Donegal is a fishing area located off the northwest of Ireland. This area is considered to be of great economical and ecological importance due to the abundance of cod. However, the fishing community became aware over the past few years that cod are actually facing depletion, and agreed that a better understanding of their life pattern would help their conservation while also ensuring the continuity of the fishing industry.
To this end, they requested that the Marine Institute Fisheries Sciences Service perform an ecological assessment of the area. In addition, the Greencastle Codling Bank was chosen as a site of interest for the testing of seabed mapping methods of the MESH project. By linking both of these studies, Camille hopes to gain a better understanding of the relationship between seabed composition and species distribution.
To deliver on this project, three different phases were planned. Firstly, data from the Irish National Seabed Survey was analysed using Geographical Information System (GIS) processes to produce benthic terrain classifications. Benthic terrain classification involves analysing the structure of the seabed and classifying the different types of soil or rock that makes up the seafloor. This was achieved by interpretating multibeam and backscatter data, groundtruthing the results through video tows and grab samples analyses; which finally leads to benthic habitat classification of the study area.
The second part of the project consists of integrating fisheries data with the newly developed benthic habitat classification of the Greencastle Codling Bank area. To achieve this, results of the survey will be integrated into a GIS environment. Through an interpolation process, fish distribution over the area will be assumed.
Finally, analysis of results and conclusions will be drawn on the links between benthic habitat and fish distribution.
The project has been run as the final assessment of Camille's degree of Environmental Engineering at Avans University, Breda (NL).
Student: Camille Vogel
Project duration: 20 weeks
Education: Environmental Technology and Management, Second year
AVANS University, Breda (NL)