Scientific personnel from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO, CSIC) set sail today from the port of St. John's to launch the Flemish Cap fisheries research campaign, developed in the NAFO (Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization) regulatory area.
The organization explains that the main purpose of this mission "is to understand the state of the populations of the most important species for the fleet operating in the area." To this end, abundance, biomass, and demographic structure of the resources will be evaluated, along with the oceanographic conditions of the Flemish Cap Bank, covering seabed depths of up to 1,460 meters.
The priority species, ordered by their catch volume, are cod (Gadus morhua), redfish (Sebastes spp), and Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides). In addition, information will be collected on other species of fishing interest such as American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides), roughhead grenadier (Macrourus berglax), and shrimp (Pandalus borealis).
Throughout the campaign, data on catches, size distribution, biological parameters, otoliths, and gonads will be collected, along with stomach contents and various samples intended for growth and reproduction studies.
Complementarily, the species of invertebrates present in the catches will be identified and recorded, in order to characterize the deepest communities in the area, while the oceanographic conditions of the entire water column will be documented.