Monitoring of fish stocks

DTU Aqua is the national coordinator of the EU Data Collection Programme in fisheries and aquaculture. The institute is responsible for collecting biological data from both commercial and recreational fisheries and for conducting fisheries-independent surveys of fish stocks and the marine environment for use in scientific advice. This task is delegated to DTU Aqua by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries.

All fisheries-dependent data is collected by the Danish Agricultural and Fisheries Agency. Economic data from fisheries and aquaculture is collected by Statistics Denmark.   

Data collection

Data collection is performed on DTU Aqua's research vessels, from commercial vessels, in harbours and using landing statistics, information from log books, VMS satellite monitoring, and so on. The collection is done in collaboration with other EU countries' national institutes and follows the EU's Data Collection Framework.

The information collected comprises biological data such as the length, weight and age of the fish, environmental aspects and non-biological information about fishing equipment and the number of fishing days, for example.

Development of methods and technology

DTU Aqua also works to develop and improve methods and technology for monitoring fish, ecosystems and fishery, such as optical and hydro-acoustic systems for the identification and determination of biomasses of fish and shellfish.