Fisheries and Aquatic Ecosystems
The Fisheries and Aquatics Ecosytems Branch (FAEB) supports four programmes providing research, monitoring and technology transfer in support of evidence-based sustainable management of freshwater and marine resources in Northern Ireland.
FAEB’s scientific work on marine ecosystem health is currently being expanded in the context of a wider requirement to co-ordinate marine science at UK level. The programmes within branch contribute to assessment of marine fisheries stocks, designation, monitoring and management of marine protected areas and assessment of trends in marine environmental change throughout the water column and seabed. FAEB science supports emerging areas of focus in catchment modelling and developing offshore renewable energy.
FAEB’s Freshwater Fisheries programme maintains a database of robust scientific evidence in support of international reporting on the status of salmon stocks and the European eel recovery plan. It is developing strategies for evidence-based sustainable management and exploitation of recreational and commercial fisheries resources in inland waters, with a particular focus on the large lake systems of Loughs Neagh and Erne.
Key areas include:
- Freshwater fisheries
- Marine ecology
- Marine fisheries
- Oceanography and limnology
- Research vessel and engineering
AFBI’s customer base is wide, with particularly strong links to Cefas (England), The Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government, Scottish Association for Marine Science, and Marine Institute (Ireland).
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