Population structure, reproductive strategies and demography of redfish (Genus Sebastes) in the Irminger Sea and adjacent waters (ICES V, XII and XIV; NAFO 1) (Acronym: REDFISH) - A four-year research project funded within the European Commission's Fifth Framework Programme (1998-2002), contract QLK5-CT1999-01222 -

Project duration: 52 months (01/01/2000 - 31/04/2004)

Objectives
Two commercially exploited redfish species occur in the Irminger Sea and adjacent waters, golden redfish (Sebates marinus, Linnaeus, 1758) an deep sea redfish (Sebastes mentella, Travin 1951) which are treated presently as three management units straddling over European, Faeroes, Icelandic and Greenlandic EEZs as well as international waters. They are defined as golden redfish and deep sea redfish on the continental slopes and oceanic redfish distributed over the pelagic Irminger Sea waters. the pelagic occurrences of redfish below 500 m and the 'giants' of the Reykjanes Ridge remained unidentified. Workpackage one investigates the genetic relation across these redfish while the second workpackage will deal with the reproductive strategy of the viviparous redfish species in terms of fecundity and seasonal cycles by sex. The third workpackage focuses on the dynamic demography of the redfish stocks including scientific and commercial fleet data.

Workplan
The work programme is divided into three workpackages with various sub-workpackages as listed below. A total of 16 scientists and 6 technicians from four countries collaborate and contribute to the various analyses:

• Federal Research Centre for Fisheries, Germany (co-ordination)
• Institute of Marine Research, Spain
• Marine Research Institute, Iceland
• Institute for Marine Research, Norway
• University of Bergen, Norway

Workpackages

• Workpackage 1: Species and population structure
  1.1 Morphologic analyses (21 morphometric and 11 meristic parameters)
  1.2 Otolith structures (shape) and elemental contents (LA-ICPMS microchemical analysis of trace elements)
  1.3 Genetic separation of species and stocks (isozymes, haemoglobin, eye lens proteins, microsatellites, AFLP, SSCP & RFLP of nuclear genes, nuclear DNA PCR, nuclear rDNA PCR, mitochondrial ND3 gene sequencing and SSCP and RFLP of mtDNA control region)
  
  
• Workpackage 2: Reproductive strategies
  2.1 Reproductive cycles by species, stock and sex (spawning grounds and season, maturity stages)
  2.2 Female fecundity by species and stock
  
  
• Workpackage 3: Abundance and demography
  3.1 Survey evaluation by species , stock and size (German, Icelandic and Greenlandic groundfish surveys, international hydroacoustic survey)
  3.2 Evaluation of commercial catch statistics (elaboration of data base)
  3.3 Age determination and validation by species and stock (otolith thin sections, age validation by means of radiometric analysis)
  

Last update: 01 Dec 2003

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