Download AEBR 274 Developing quantitative methods for the assessment of risk to benthic habitats from bottom fishing activities using the test case of holothurians on the Chatham Rise

This study developed a method to assess risk to benthic habitats from fishing, using holothurians on the Chatham Rise as a case study. A spatial population distribution layer was developed. This layer and the bottom-contacting trawl footprint were then used in a Bayesian spatial population model to calculate the biomass trajectory and spatially and temporally explicit impact overlap statistics for the taxon. Species susceptibility was either assumed or estimated within the population model.