Examining the human-predator interface of the North Sea: interactions between man-made subsea structures, marine predators, and commercial fisheries.

研究北海人类与捕食者的界面：人造海底结构、海洋捕食者和商业渔业之间的相互作用。

• 批准号: 2598397
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of St Andrews
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2598397
• 关键词: Examining; human; predator; interface; North

The North Sea has entered a period of rapid change incorporating large-scale decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructure; increases in the marine renewable energy industry; changes to commercial fisheries management; and ongoing climate change. The North Sea is also home to globally significant populations of marine predators including seabirds, seals and cetaceans. Predators and fishers have a complex relationship with man-made structures (MMS) and with each other. For example, mammals can be displaced during MMS construction and operation, but once installed, MMS can host artificial reefs with localised increases in fish densities, resulting in attraction of individual predators to forage at MMS (e.g. Russell et al. 2014 [1]). MMS can also act as de facto MPAs because many exclude commercial fisheries and shipping. Some fishers preferentially operate near pipelines (Rouse et al. 2018 [2]), likely due to increased fish densities, but in general fishers are advocates for the removal of decommissioned structures. Marine predator interactions with fishers can be direct e.g. following fishers to scavenge on discards (Bodey et al. 2014 [3]) and predator by-catch [4] or indirect e.g. competition for prey resources [5]. Finally, predatory species compete, predate, and facilitate each other via multiple mechanisms. Understanding the above relationships is critical to harmonising conservation of biodiversity with future resource management. This project will fill critical knowledge gaps by addressing four key questions (chapters): 1) What is the magnitude and spatial scale of the effect of MMS on fishing vessel activity? 2) What are the relative influences of MMS and fishing vessels on the movements of top predators? 3) What areas of the North Sea are hotspots for predators? 4) What is the spatial overlap between the North Sea distributions of top predators, commercial fisheries, and the current and future MMS landscape?

北海已进入一个快速变化的时期，包括石油和天然气基础设施的大规模退役;海洋可再生能源产业的增加;商业渔业管理的变化;以及持续的气候变化。北海也是海鸟、海豹和鲸目动物等全球重要海洋食肉动物种群的家园。捕食者和渔民与人造结构（MMS）以及彼此之间有着复杂的关系。例如，哺乳动物可能在MMS建造和运行期间被取代，但一旦安装，MMS可以容纳人工鱼礁，局部增加鱼类密度，导致吸引个体捕食者在MMS觅食（例如Russell等人，2014 [1]）。MMS也可以作为事实上的海洋保护区，因为许多海洋保护区不包括商业渔业和航运。一些渔民倾向于在管道附近作业（Rouse等人，2018 [2]），这可能是由于鱼类密度增加，但一般来说，渔民是拆除退役结构的倡导者。海洋捕食者与渔民的相互作用可以是直接的，例如跟随渔民捕捞丢弃物（Bodey等人，2014年[3]）和捕食者副渔获物[4]，也可以是间接的，例如竞争猎物资源[5]。最后，捕食性物种通过多种机制相互竞争、捕食和促进。理解上述关系对于协调生物多样性保护与未来资源管理至关重要。该项目将通过解决四个关键问题（章节）来填补关键的知识空白：1）MMS对渔船活动影响的幅度和空间尺度是什么？2)MMS和渔船对顶级捕食者移动的相对影响是什么？3)北海的哪些区域是食肉动物的热点？4)北海顶级捕食者、商业渔业和当前及未来MMS景观分布之间的空间重叠是什么？