The Davis Strait - DCE - Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi

tween 1 and 2.4 billion individuals from 1992 to 1996 but this has decreased
since to approximately 84 million individuals in 2009 (Nygaard & Jørgensen
2010), equivalent to a 25-fold decrease in abundance in 15 years.
Wolffish, Anarhichas minor, Anarhichas lupus and Anarhichas denticulatus
Biology: Three species of wolffish live in the waters off Greenland, spotted
wolffish (Anarhichas minor), Atlantic wolffish (Anarhichas lupus), and northern
wolffish (Anarhichas denticulatus). Whereas Atlantic wolffish is a highly
commercial and valuable fish, spotted wolffish is of less commercial interest,
and northern wolffish of no commercial interest and only consumed in a few
countries. All three species of wolffish are distributed across the North Atlantic
from USA to Spitsbergen and the Barents Sea and along the coasts of
northern Europe. Survey indices indicate that the biomass of Atlantic wolffish
is very low compared to the mid 1980s and that the biomass of spotted
wolffish increased between 2002 and 2008.
American plaice, Hippoglossoides platessoides
American plaice is distributed throughout the North Atlantic from the coast
of Murmansk to the southern Labrador and USA. Survey indices indicate
that the biomass of American plaice in West Greenland water is low compared
to the 1980s (Nygaard & Jørgensen 2010).
Thorny skate, Amblyraja radiata
Thorny skate is distributed throughout the North Atlantic, from Hudson
Bay along the coast to USA, Greenland to Iceland, the English Channel, the
Baltic, Svalbard and the Barents Sea. Survey indices indicate that the biomass
of thorny skate in West Greenland has decreased substantially since
the 1980s (Nygaard & Jørgensen 2010).
4.7 Seabirds
David Boertmann, Flemming Merkel, Anders Mosbech, Kasper Johansen & Daniel
Clausen (AU)
Seabirds are an important component in the marine ecosystem of the assessment
area. The numbers of breeding seabirds are, however relatively
low compared to the coasts further north in Greenland, in Disko Bay, Upernavik
and Qaanaaq Districts. The huge breeding colonies found there, do
not occur in the Davis Strait assessment area (Boertmann et al. 1996). However,
the assessment area is an extremely important winter quarter for seabirds
from the entire North Atlantic (Boertmann et al. 2004).
Seabirds constitute an important resource to the Greenlanders and seabird
hunting is a popular spare time activity. There are also full time hunters in
the assessment area, who sell their products incl. seabirds on the local openair
markets. The seabird hunting is described in chapter 5. The most hunted
species are thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia), common eider (Somateria mollissima)
and black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla).
The bird hunt is regulated by the governmental order on protection and
hunting of birds, the most recent one was issued on 8 March 2009.
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