170
The English Channel has also, for a long time,
supported the activities of many users (e.g.
fi shing, maritime transport, aggregate extraction,
discharges, wind parks, aquaculture, tourism), in
a context of climate change. It is also considered
one of the most intensively used sea areas in the
world. Of these human pressures, fi shing activity,
maritime transport and aggregate extractions are
probably on the top of the French and UK
Governments’ agenda for that area. Thus, there
were in 2007 about 1,500 French fi shing vessels
registered in English Channel harbours, employing 4,300 fi shers and generating a gross revenue
of 1.4 million €. Maritime transport is also a
major economic activity in the English Channel.
Coming from around the planet and leaving in
the direction of Asia, Africa and America, nearly
500 ships of over 300 t enter and leave the English
Channel every day, making it 1 craft every 3 min.
Perpendicular to this traffi c, 90–120 daily rotations
are operated by ferries between the continent
and the British Isles, transporting 17 million passengers per annum. Marine aggregate extraction
sites have for many decades been exploited along
the UK coasts of the English Channel and more
recently along the French coasts. In 2007, 5.5 Mt
of marine aggregates were extracted from several
tens of km
2 in UK southern coastal waters and 1
Mt from less than 10 km
2 along French coasts.
Recently, this activity moved further offshore to
areas trawled and dredged by French fi shermen.
Several 100 km
2 are presently prospected by
French companies both in the Eastern and Central
English Channel. All these activities have, in isolation or in combination, long been recognised to
be major vectors of change for the ecosystem
structure and functioning and also for related
economic maritime sectors.
These multiple and diverse interactions
between human activities and the pressure they
exert on the marine ecosystem necessitate to
manage the Eastern English Channel in an integrated and cross-sectorial fashion, consistent with
the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive
(MSFD) and marine spatial planning (MSP).
This study presents, in a summarised fashion,
the evolution of the research conducted in the
past 15 years around the Eastern English Channel
ecosystem, starting from data collation all the
way through end-to-end ecosystem modelling,
with a focus on fl atfi sh species and fi sheries and
their interactions with other sectors of activity
(aggregate extractions, maritime traffi c).
2
From Data Collection
to Mapping Information
Layers and Spatial
and Ecological Analyses
A considerable amount of information has been
collected in the Eastern English Channel (EEC)
over the period 2004–2010, mainly during three
successive
EU
Interreg-funded
projects:
CHARM1 (2003–2005) covering the Dover
Strait, CHARM2 (2006–2008) the whole EEC
and CHARM3 (2009–2012) both the eastern and
the western parts of the English Channel. An atlas
including a variety of information layers related
to the EEC physical environment (e.g. temperature, salinity, bed shear stress), fi sh and benthos
habitats, trophic network and fi sheries was in particular produced in the course of CHARM2
(Carpentier et al. 2009 ). The maps produced in the
atlas were based on a collation of research surveys
and commercial fi sheries information. The raw
information was interpolated and processed
through a variety of statistical methods, including
kriging, GLMs (generalised linear models),
GAMs (generalised additive models) and quantile
regressions, used for habitat suitability modelling
and mapping. In addition, information on the life
traits and diet of a large panel of commercial fi sh
species was processed (geomorphometrics, stomach contents and stable isotope analyses) to characterise the EEC trophic network in a quantitative
fashion. All these information processed during a
10-year period form a comprehensive and sound
basis to calibrate models covering part and/or the
totality of ecosystem components.
P. Marchal et al.
The English Channel has also, for a long time,
supported the activities of many users (e.g.
fi shing, maritime transport, aggregate extraction,
discharges, wind parks, aquaculture, tourism), in
a context of climate change. It is also considered
one of the most intensively used sea areas in the
world. Of these human pressures, fi shing activity,
maritime transport and aggregate extractions are
probably on the top of the French and UK
Governments’ agenda for that area. Thus, there
were in 2007 about 1,500 French fi shing vessels
registered in English Channel harbours, employing 4,300 fi shers and generating a gross revenue
of 1.4 million €. Maritime transport is also a
major economic activity in the English Channel.
Coming from around the planet and leaving in
the direction of Asia, Africa and America, nearly
500 ships of over 300 t enter and leave the English
Channel every day, making it 1 craft every 3 min.
Perpendicular to this traffi c, 90–120 daily rotations
are operated by ferries between the continent
and the British Isles, transporting 17 million passengers per annum. Marine aggregate extraction
sites have for many decades been exploited along
the UK coasts of the English Channel and more
recently along the French coasts. In 2007, 5.5 Mt
of marine aggregates were extracted from several
tens of km
2 in UK southern coastal waters and 1
Mt from less than 10 km
2 along French coasts.
Recently, this activity moved further offshore to
areas trawled and dredged by French fi shermen.
Several 100 km
2 are presently prospected by
French companies both in the Eastern and Central
English Channel. All these activities have, in isolation or in combination, long been recognised to
be major vectors of change for the ecosystem
structure and functioning and also for related
economic maritime sectors.
These multiple and diverse interactions
between human activities and the pressure they
exert on the marine ecosystem necessitate to
manage the Eastern English Channel in an integrated and cross-sectorial fashion, consistent with
the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive
(MSFD) and marine spatial planning (MSP).
This study presents, in a summarised fashion,
the evolution of the research conducted in the
past 15 years around the Eastern English Channel
ecosystem, starting from data collation all the
way through end-to-end ecosystem modelling,
with a focus on fl atfi sh species and fi sheries and
their interactions with other sectors of activity
(aggregate extractions, maritime traffi c).
2
From Data Collection
to Mapping Information
Layers and Spatial
and Ecological Analyses
A considerable amount of information has been
collected in the Eastern English Channel (EEC)
over the period 2004–2010, mainly during three
successive
EU
Interreg-funded
projects:
CHARM1 (2003–2005) covering the Dover
Strait, CHARM2 (2006–2008) the whole EEC
and CHARM3 (2009–2012) both the eastern and
the western parts of the English Channel. An atlas
including a variety of information layers related
to the EEC physical environment (e.g. temperature, salinity, bed shear stress), fi sh and benthos
habitats, trophic network and fi sheries was in particular produced in the course of CHARM2
(Carpentier et al. 2009 ). The maps produced in the
atlas were based on a collation of research surveys
and commercial fi sheries information. The raw
information was interpolated and processed
through a variety of statistical methods, including
kriging, GLMs (generalised linear models),
GAMs (generalised additive models) and quantile
regressions, used for habitat suitability modelling
and mapping. In addition, information on the life
traits and diet of a large panel of commercial fi sh
species was processed (geomorphometrics, stomach contents and stable isotope analyses) to characterise the EEC trophic network in a quantitative
fashion. All these information processed during a
10-year period form a comprehensive and sound
basis to calibrate models covering part and/or the
totality of ecosystem components.
P. Marchal et al.