The Irish Groundfish Survey (IGFS) is an annual fishing programme carried out by the EU and International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) member states. The primary purpose of the survey is to provide abundance indices of juvenile commercially important target species through benthic trawling of previous and newly acquired sites, and the categorisation, weighing and ageing of the catch. The results, when coupled together with results from similar surveys, provide an indication of the state and sustainability of the target species and the fisheries they inhabit
Since 2003 members of the seabed surveying team have joined this programme with two specific objectives:
- Provision of Trawl Sites
Multi-beam mapping techniques were used to increase the number of available trawl sites. The number of sites available for trawling has, to date, been limited to locations previously fished, as submerged obstructions and rocky sea floor could cause damage to the nets.
Examples of different kinds of obstructions for net deployment
- Habitat Mapping
Seabed mapping techniques normally employed during the Seabed Survey programme have been used to improve the knowledge of benthic habitats and sea floor morphology, especially in important spawning areas. Mapping the sea floor habitat is the first essential step for scientific fisheries management, for monitoring environmental change and for assessing the impact of anthropogenic disturbance on benthic organisms.
Shaded relief bathymetry of an area south of Dingle, identified as an area used for herring spawning. Inset is maginfied image of NW area of the spawning grounds.