Optimismus nur für Sprotte, Wittling und Stintdorsch

70 half-hour tows using a Grand Ouverture Verticale (GOV) and – for the first time for R.V. “Walther Herwig III” – 102 plankton stations with a special plankton net were this years’ German contribution to the International Bottom Trawl Survey (IBTS). Results show only for sprat, whiting, and Norway pout relatively good incoming year-classes whereas indices for cod, haddock, mackerel, and herring point at rather poor recruitment. Strongest herring larvae concentrations (< 50 larvae/haul) were observed in the Moray Firth area, on the Fladenground and off the Jutland coast. 75 hydrographic stations showed the water masses in the area of investigation to be vertically mixed and homogenous. However, temperatures measured were 0.5 K to 1 K above longterm means.