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Wadden Sea Day 2011
Fish in the
Wadden Sea -
Exploring an Unknown World

25 August 2011
 
Wilhelmshaven
Das Wattenmeerhaus

Photo: Klaus Janke

 

 

   

 

Wadden Sea Day 2011 highlights the key role of the fish fauna for the Wadden Sea World Heritage food web

On 25 August 2011, the sixth annual Wadden Sea Day took place in Wilhelmshaven. Over 80 participants from the three Wadden Sea countries, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, attended the scientific conference on “Fish in the Wadden Sea – Exploring an Unknown World”. With this year’s topic a very important issue for the Wadden Sea was addressed, which often does not get enough attention. The conference aimed at providing insights in recent research and assessment of monitoring data, identifying research priorities for trilateral projects, and discussing with scientists and managers how trilateral targets on fish could be met.

Jens Enemark opening the Wadden Sea Day 2011

The unique ecosystem of the Wadden Sea, which for the most part has been inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage list, is used by fish as spawning, breeding and foraging grounds. The shallow waters of the Wadden Sea serve as an acclimation area and transit route for long-distance migrants from the North Sea to their spawning grounds located in fresh water. The conference further tended to highlight the ecological importance of fish for the Wadden Sea and the importance of the Wadden Sea for its fish inhabitants. The experts also discussed natural and human factors that may influence the development of fish population, reflected in the Wadden Quality Status Report 2009.

Audience at the scientific conference

The conference marked the first step towards the harmonization of existing monitoring data from all three countries, within which the provision of the necessary measurement data of the monitoring programs must be ensured. The cooperation is particularly important in view of the current legislation and the implementation of EU directives regarding fish. The presentations of leading scientists provided an overview of results from different monitoring programs, management programs, as well as already completed research projects. Overall, results of long-term research projects indicated changes both in seasonal composition and abundance of different fish populations in several Wadden Sea regions. According to the assessments of these findings, some of these changes might be induced by climatic changes. Further detected changing migration behaviors and resident times could cause a mismatch in predator-prey-abundance in food webs. Based on these results it will be possible to close certain knowledge gaps and reveal the areas, where further research is required, e.g. fish population dynamics and food web interactions. Furthermore, the experts gave recommendations for future management issues concerning fish in the Wadden Sea, like the restoration of habitats in order to promote conditions for unhindered migration between the sea and inland waters and improvement of the physical conditions in river systems for diadromous fish.

Presenters of the Wadden Sea Day 2011

"There is a large amount of research concerning fish in the separate areas of the Wadden Sea. One of the main tasks of the trilateral cooperation is to combine these data like a puzzle in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of the fish trends and to determine the factors that influence them," - says Jens Enemark, Head of the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat. - "This conference has suggested further areas that require intensified scientific cooperation between the Wadden Sea countries and introduced new tasks for the cooperation”.

 

Presentations

Moritz Pockberger / Harald Asmus (AWI, Wadden Sea Station Sylt): Significance of fish for food webs in the Wadden Sea

Zwanette Jager (ZiltWater Advies): First Trilateral Analysis of Fish in the Wadden Sea - Future Needs for Harmonized Assessment

Jörg Scholle / Bastian Schuchardt (BioConsult): Status of the Anadromous Twaite Shad (Alosa fallax) in Wadden Sea Estuaries – Assessment According to EU Directives

Volker Siegel (vTI, Institute of Sea Fisheries): Demersal Young Fish Survey – Long-term Development of Shrimp and Fish Populations

Ralf Vorberg (Marine Science Services): 20 Years Exploring an Unknown World - Fish-Monitoring in the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea

Vania Freitas / Henk van der Veer (NIOZ): Long term changes in the fish community of the western Wadden Sea: How important is climate change?

Hans Ole Hansen (Danish Nature Agency): The Houting Project - Danish Efforts to Save a Fish Species

Martin Winkler / Heide-Rose Vatterrott (University of Applied Sciences Bremen): Atlas of Fish Species – Current Position and Perspectives

 

Background and Objective

The Wadden Sea provides indispensable ecological functions for a whole range of fish species in the course of their lifecycles, such as reproduction, maturing and feeding, not only for fish species living permanently in it, but also for those species which migrate in a later stage of their life to the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. The area serves also as an acclimatization area and transit route for long-distance migrants from sea to their spawning grounds located in fresh water.

In the Wadden Sea Plan 2010, trilateral targets referring explicitly to fish have been included. The need to include fish in Wadden Sea Plan and TMAP has grown because the EU Water Framework Directive and Marine Strategy Framework Directive recognize fish as a biological quality element for transitional waters (estuaries) and as qualitative descriptors of the good environmental status respectively. In addition, selected fish species are listed in the Habitats Directive.

The Quality Status Report for the Wadden Sea 2009 showed that climatic changes have led to corresponding changes in fish abundance that are sometimes outranging the long-term average and could lead to a regime shift in the ecosystem. Abundances of several fish species have decreased in almost all regions, but factors (natural or anthropogenic) causing these changes are still largely unknown. The QSR 2009 also showed that there is still insufficient knowledge about spatial and temporal development of fish populations with regard to their protection and management. In addition, recent projects underlined the importance of salt marsh gullies for many fish – an issue which has been underestimated in the past.

The conference had the aim to provide insights in recent research and assessment of monitoring data, to identify research priorities for trilateral projects, and to discuss with scientists and managers how the challenges in accordance with the targets on fish in the Wadden Sea Plan 2010 can be met.

 

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