Thirty French fleets fishing primarily in the Bay of Biscay were defined
based on techno-economic input criteria: i) 18 fishing gear or gear
combinations ii) the location of fishing grounds visited during a year
(<12 nautical miles from coast, beyond 12 nm or both) and iii) total
vessel length (<20 m for trawlers and other gears <24 m). The fleets
were then characterised in terms of horse power, economic dependence on a
list of nine dominant commercial species (sole, Nephrops, sea bass, hake,
monkfish, anchovy, cuttlefish, sardine and squid) and their contribution to
the landings of these species from the Bay of Biscay. Most fleets derived
the majority of their income from one or two among the nine species. Species
dependencies changed little during the study period, except for those
vessels targeting anchovy before the fishery restrictions starting in 2005.
Fish community impacts were compared based on fleet landings' profiles.
Twelve landings profiles were determined using hierarchical cluster
analysis. Fleets using similar gears had the same landings' profiles and
therefore exercised similar pressures on the ecosystem, though not always in
the same areas. The depletion of anchovy and the closure of the fishery lead
to a change in landings profile for offshore pelagic trawlers from anchovy
dominance to one with a larger proportion of albacore and sea bass. During
the study period, the overall vessel number decreased from 2163 to 1845. Few
vessels changed fleets, but if they did, they primarily started to fish
closer to the coast, which might be a result of increasing fuel prices.