How do demersal fishing fleets interact with aggregate extraction in a congested sea?

The effects of the aggregate extraction intensity and the distance to extraction sites on the distribution of fishing effort were investigated for a broad selection of French and English demersal fleets operating in the Eastern English Channel. The most prominent result was that most fleets fishing near to aggregate extraction sites were not deterred by extraction activities. The fishing effort of dredgers and potters could be greater adjacent to marine aggregates sites than elsewhere, and also positively correlated to extraction intensity with a lag of 0–9 months. The distribution of fishing effort of French netters remained consistent over the study period. However, it is of note that the fishing effort of netters has increased substantially in the impacted area of the Dieppe site (where it is correlated to extraction intensity with a lag of 6 months), while slightly decreasing in the intermediate and reference areas. The attraction of fishing fleets is likely due to a local temporary concentration of their main target species. However, knowledge of their life-history characteristics and habitat preferences suggests that some of these species could be particularly vulnerable to aggregate extractions in the longer term.