| Abstract | The North Sea International Bottom Trawl Survey is coordinated by the ICES International Bottom Trawl Survey Working Group (IBTSWG). Having evolved from a herring survey, when only data on young herring were collected, the IBTS now targets the following commercial finfish species:
herring (Clupea harengus),
cod (Gadus morhua),
whiting (Merlangius merlangus),
haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus),
saithe (Pollachius virens),
Norway pout (Trisopterus esmarki),
mackerel (Scomber scombrus), and
sprat (Sprattus sprattus).
The main objective of the IBTS is to provide recruitment indices of these commercial fish species. Furthermore, to get an early indication of the potential amount of young herring, the abundance and distribution of herring larvae is monitored by fishing with a plankton net at night. Parallel to trawling, hydrographic data (salinity, temperature) are collected.
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