Distribution and intensity of bottom trawl fisheries in the Patagonian Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem and its relationship with marine fronts.

ALEMANY, D.; ACHA E.M.; IRIBARNE O.

FISHERIES OCEANOGRAPHY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2016 vol. 25 p. 183 - 192

1054-6006

Trawling is a major concern worldwide and there is considerable debate about its impact on marine ecosystems. The Argentine continental shelf is an important fishing area where bottom trawling is the dominant fishing method. We investigated the distribution of bottom trawl fishing within the Argentine continental shelf, defining the areas of highest trawling intensity (hotspots) and evaluating their relationship with marine fronts. We focused on the three main oceanographic fronts, the shelf-break front, the southern Patagonia front and the mid-shelf front. To estimate fishing effort and trawled areas, VMS data from 2006 to 2012 were used. We found that the spatial distribution of trawling activity in the shelf is patchy, with few areas characterized by high trawling effort and little interannual variation in their spatial location. However, such hotspots were small, comprising annually less than 5% of the shelf extension or less than 7% of the total trawlable area. Though cannot be detected any spatial matching between trawling distribution and marine fronts, trawling hotspots distributed consistently onshore the shelf-break front. This pattern is possibly due to different but non-exclusive processes such as movement of water masses and/or organisms.