Bass, pollack, lobsters… since May 2022, Ifremer has been carrying out fish tagging missions in Brittany and Normandy. In total, more than 300 fish are tracked using an acoustic telemetry network. The first results are expected in early 2023.
Since May 2022, Ifremer has been carrying out sea bass, pollack and lobster tagging missions on the coasts of Brittany and Normandy with the support of local fishermen, as part of the European Fish Intel project which brings together teams French, English and Belgian. “One of the last projects of this type because of Brexit”, underlines Mathieu Woillez, Ifremer researcher in fisheries.
Increasingly used acoustic telemetry
Over the past ten years, acoustic telemetry has been increasingly used. “This is the first time this method has been used on the Channel and Atlantic coasts, but in Australia and Canada, it’s nothing new,” explains Mathieu Woillez. The goal? Better know and understand the relationships that fish have with their environment: how they use their habitats, what are their living spaces, where they go to feed, grow and reproduce. “Thanks to this data, we will be able, for example, to better quantify the connectivity between the Iroise marine natural park and the Sept-Iles nature reserve and to know to what extent these species frequent marine renewable energy installations. which will contribute to improving the management of fish populations in the Channel”, specifies Mathieu Woillez.
Each brand is unique. It emits its own acoustic signal. It is these signals that the acoustic receivers register as soon as a tagged fish or lobster passes nearby.
300 fish tracked using telemetry
In total, more than 300 fish are tracked using an acoustic telemetry network. Lobster tagging operations are underway around the island of Sein and Ouessant and the Sept-Iles nature reserve. Soon, 50 lobsters will also be monitored. Scientists have already managed to tag 233 bass and 71 pollack.
Ifremer and France Energies Marines, with the collaboration of local fishermen and developers of offshore wind farms, have deployed 60 acoustic receivers in the Iroise Sea, in the Côtes d’Armor and in the Bay of Seine. A dozen others will soon be installed by Ifremer.
“This project is important because with global warming, one wonders how these fish can adapt to new habitats,” adds the marine ecology researcher.
To date, the English and Belgian teams have tagged 68 lobsters, 30 bluefin tuna, 196 sea bass, 64 gray sea bream and 10 pollack. The first results are expected in early 2023.