Department of Fisheries Resources

About the department

The basic aim of the Department’s activity is to develop and implement an ecosystem approach to the resources management, i.e. considering the impact of environmental factors on the living resources as well as the impact of fisheries on the exploited resources and the ecosystem.

These themes are approached through the following research fields:

• Biology and the significance of fish populations in the Baltic Sea ecosystem, including:
  • determining the impact of natural and anthropogenic factors on the life processes and behaviour of fish (like reproduction, growth, feeding or migrations),
  • analysis of chosen parameters and characteristics of fish as bio-indicators for changes which occur in the environment,
  • genetic characteristics of the used resources, with a special attention paid to the possibilities of identifying populations.
• Defining the dynamics and production of stocks of significant species of fish, which are caught as a part of Baltic and deep-sea fisheries, so that their resources can be used rationally.

Staff

Major projects since 2013

1. Dynamics of the population of Baltic fish important for the Polish fisheries – NMFRI statutory research, project implemented annually, head – Professor J. Horbowy
2. Seafood safety and quality in terms of the zoonotic and toxicological hazard: risk assessment, monitoring and mitigation, SeaQual – project within the framework of BIOSTRATEG, 2016-2019, head – Dr. M. Podolska
3. INtegrating SPatIal pRocesses into Ecosystem models for sustainable utilization of fish resource, INSPIRE – project within the framework of BONUS EEIG, 2014-2017, head – Professor J. Horbowy
4. Co-creating ecosystem-based fisheries management solutions, MareFrame – 7 FP EU, 2014-2017, head – Professor J. Horbowy
5. Tagging Baltic Cod, TaBaCod – project within the framework of BalticSea 2020, 2016-2019, head – Dr. K. Radtke
6. European Union Basin – scale Analysis, Synthesis and Integration, EURO-BASIN – 7 FP EU, 2010-2014, head – Professor J. Horbowy
7. Maximising yield of fisheries while balancing ecosystem, economic and social concerns,  MyFish, – 7 FP EU, 2012-2016, head – Professor J. Horbowy
8. Identification of sources of cod (Gadus morhua) infection with parasites, based on the analysis of parasite fauna in marine invertebrates present in the diet of these fish – NSN project within PRELUDIUM 10 competition, 2016-2018, head – J. Pawlak, M.Sc.
9. Characteristics of the genetic diversity of the migratory whitefish population (Coregonus lavaretus) occurring in the waters of the southern Baltic – NMFRI statutory research, 2013-2015, head – Dr. A. Wąs-Barcz
10. Testing the efficiency of restocking with migratory sea trout in the Vistula River using genetic methods under the “Restocking Polish Marine Areas” programme – commissioned research, 2013-2018, head – Dr. A. Wąs-Barcz

Major projects since 2014

1. Podolska M., Nadolna K., Szostakowska B. 2014. Acetylcholinesterase activity in the host-parasite system of the cod Gadus morhua and acanthocephalan Echinorhynchus gadi from the southern Baltic Sea. Marine Pollution Bulletin 79:100-106
2. Smoliński, S., Całkiewicz J. 2015. A fish-based index for assessing the ecological status of Polish transitional and coastal waters. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 101:497-506
3. Wąs, A., Bernaś, R., 2016. Long-term and seasonal genetic differentiation in wild and enhanced stocks of sea trout (Salmo trutta m. trutta L.) from the Vistula River, in the southern Baltic—Management implications. Fisheries Research. 175: 57-65. Doi: 10.1016/j.fishres.2015.11.006
4. Horbowy, J. 2016. Effects of varying natural mortality and selectivity on the assessment of eastern Baltic cod (Gadus morhua Linnaeus, 1758) stock. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 32: 1032-1040. doi:10.1111/jai.13202
5. Horbowy, J., Podolska, M., Nadolna-Ałtyn, K. 2016. Increasing occurrence of anisakid nematodes in the liver of cod (Gadus morhua) from the Baltic Sea: Does infection affect the condition and mortality of fish? Fisheries Research 179: 98–103
6. Podolska M., Polak-Juszczak, L. Nadolna-Ałtyn, K. 2016. Host condition and accumulation of metals by acanthocephalan parasite Echinorhynchus gadi in cod Gadus morhua from the southern Baltic Sea. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 113: 287–292
7. Smoliński S., Radtke K. 2016. Spatial prediction of demersal fish diversity in the Baltic Sea: comparison of machine learning and regression-based techniques. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 74: 102-111
8. Horbowy, J., Luzeńczyk, A. 2017. Effects of multispecies and density dependent factors on MSY reference points: Example of the Baltic Sea sprat. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 74: 864–870
9. Horbowy J., Tomczak M.T. 2017. Extension of biomass estimates to pre-assessment periods using density dependent surplus production approach. PLoS ONE 12(11): e0186830. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0186830
10. Smoliński, S., Mirny, Z. 2017. Otolith biochronology as an indicator of marine fish responses to hydroclimatic conditions and ecosystem regime shifts, Ecological Indicators, 79: 286-294
11. Smoliński S. 2018. Incorporation of optimal environmental signals in the prediction of fish recruitment using random forest algorithms, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 76 : 15-27, https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2017-0554
12. Pawlak J, Nadolna-Ałtyn K, Szostakowska B, Pachur M, Podolska M. 2018. Saduria entomon infected with Hysterothylacium aduncum found in situ in the stomach of cod (Gadus morhua) from the Baltic Sea. Journal of Helminthology 92: 645–648. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022149X1700092X