ORHAGO
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French Oceanographic Cruises |
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The ORHAGO campaigns (Observation of the benthic aquatic resources of the GOlfe de Gascogne) are part of Ifremer's mission of observation and expertise in support of fisheries management. Their main aim is to obtain series of abundance indices for flatfish and in particular for sole. Consequently, the choice was made to adopt a beam trawl to comply with the standards of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) for flatfish. This choice has made it possible to be part of the campaigns coordinated by ICES and thus to be a member of a community in which the methodology and results can be discussed each year in the ICES WGBEAM working groups.
Since 2013, the ORHAGO surveys have been used to assess the state of the Bay of Biscay sole stock. They allow this assessment to be analytical, i.e. carried out with a model to analyse and simulate the dynamics of the stock. Sole is thus, together with sea bass, one of the only two internal fishery resources in the Bay of Biscay for which this level of analysis can be achieved and largely thanks to the ORHAGO series which has a major weight in the assessment.
In addition to sole, the ORHAGO surveys also provide abundance indices for all the species fished, including non-commercial benthos. They are thus a source of information on the evolution of benthic populations and coastal benthic habitats in the Bay of Biscay.
The ORHAGO campaigns thus make it possible to :
- guarantee the quality of the estimated fishing mortality on sole, an economically major species in the Bay of Biscay,
- to have information on recruitment of this species to improve short-term forecasts of the effect of fishing,
- have a series of indices to monitor changes in benthic ecosystems exploited by fisheries.
People involved
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COUPEAU Yann, Phone : 0297873842 Email : yann.coupeau@ifremer.fr |
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LECOMTE Jean-Baptiste, Scientist Phone : +33 2 40 37 42 35 Email : jean.baptiste.lecomte@ifremer.fr |
Funding and Support
DCF