The distribution of blue whiting west of the British Isles and Ireland

Northern blue whiting is a small abundant pelagic gadoid that is widely distributed in the northeast Atlantic and one of the most commercially valuable species west of the British Isles and Ireland. Over the last two decades the northeast Atlantic stock has undergone dramatic changes in abundance. The stock size decreased dramatically from 2007 to 2011, but has since shown signs of recovery. Changes in recruitment levels have occurred almost simultaneously with unusual changes in the north Atlantic ecosystem and oceanography. These links may suggest a causal linkage and the possibility of improving our understanding of the recruitment and spawning stock distribution. Here we use a set of geostatistical indices to describe the temporal and spatial patterns of the northeast Atlantic blue whiting stock in spring of 2006–2014. Geostatistical indices were computed to investigate changes in the spatial distribution, dynamics and variability of the stock in terms of density and location. Indices revealed 3 different distribution patterns over the time series. Main concentrations were either found around Rockall (first years), west of the Hebrides (2008–2013) or in the southern survey area (2014). The distribution was found to be age structured, with young blue whiting mainly concentrated in shallower areas (<1000m), along the shelf edge, and older specimens being more prominent in deeper waters (>1000m). A general additive mixed model (GAMM) was used to model the distribution of blue whiting according to environmental conditions and location.