Michel Kaiser
Bangor University, School of Ocean Sciences, Faculty Member
- Michel Kaiser’s research focuses on understanding how to achieve sustainable food production from the sea in relation... moreMichel Kaiser’s research focuses on understanding how to achieve sustainable food production from the sea in relation to fisheries and aquaculture. This necessarily involves a wide range of approaches from understanding how human activities impact upon the marine environment and its organisms, through to working with fishers to gather data needed to assess populations of harvested fish and shellfish. There are a variety of management tools that can be used to manage human activities such as technical modification of fishing gear and the use of marine protected areas, both of which are key research areas. His work involves extensive field work ranging from Tonga to the Mediterranean to the UK shelf seas. Current projects include: a global collaboration of scientists to formulate a best practices approach to bottom trawling and dredging and to understand how this affects fish production; research to underpin sustainable fisheries and advise the Isle of Man and Welsh Governments in relation to their fisheries; working with the Prince’s Charities International Sustainability Unit on the ‘Fishing into the Future’ initiative to train the fishers of tomorrow in relation to best practice and behaviour and in data gathering.edit
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Fishing with demersal towed gears has dramatic effects on the structure and functioning of marine ecosystem. We studied the ecosystem effects of the deep-sea red shrimp trawl fishery (500-800 m) in the Strait of Sicily, at the population... more
Fishing with demersal towed gears has dramatic effects on the structure and functioning of marine ecosystem. We studied the ecosystem effects of the deep-sea red shrimp trawl fishery (500-800 m) in the Strait of Sicily, at the population and community level by sampling in trawled and non-trawled treatment sites as determined by the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) fishing effort data. The study was conducted within the Maltese 25 Nautical Mile Fisheries Management Zone as part of the ongoing MEDITS trawl survey. Samples were collected using an experimental otter trawl net with a cod end stretched mesh size of 20 mm (IFREMER GOC 73) from 7 stations located in trawled sites (mean depth 616 m ± 26 m) and from 7 stations from non-trawled sites (mean depth 556 m ± 40 m). Both population and community indicators were compared across the trawled and non-trawled treatment sites. The populations of Aristaeomorpha foliacea and Etmopterux spinax did not show any differences in biomass between th...
There is a pressing need to protect the ecology of nearshore marine habitats that are used for an ever increasing range of activities. In particular, fisheries managers need to consider both environmental and socioeconomic issues in... more
There is a pressing need to protect the ecology of nearshore marine habitats that are used for an ever increasing range of activities. In particular, fisheries managers need to consider both environmental and socioeconomic issues in coastal areas owing to the environmental changes that can occur as a result of cultivation and harvesting processes associated with mariculture. Bivalve cultivation can be broadly split into three main processes: (1) seed collection, (2) seed nursery and on-growing, (3) harvesting. The environmental impacts of each cultivation stage will vary depending on the species in question and the techniques used. In many instances, commercial species are reared as seed in hatcheries prior to seeding, with few effects on the environment. However, while some species are collected from the wild using benign techniques such as spat collectors, others are extracted using intrusive devices such as dredges. A growing number of studies of the ecological effects of mechani...
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There is little common rationale for the 45 to 75 mm total shell length (TSL) minimum landing sizes (MLS) for Buccinum undatum among countries in the Northeast Atlantic. Size at maturity and length frequency of B. undatum populations vary... more
There is little common rationale for the 45 to 75 mm total shell length (TSL) minimum landing sizes (MLS) for Buccinum undatum among countries in the Northeast Atlantic. Size at maturity and length frequency of B. undatum populations vary over small spatial scales; however, the driving mechanism for this is unknown. Size at maturity research for B. undatum dates back to the late 1980s; since then, there has been little consensus on laboratory methods or in which season to undertake the research. Here, we assess small-scale spatial variation in size at maturity over a year to identify the seasons that increase error in visual maturity estimates. We compare and contrast results from methods used in the literature to estimate maturity for B. undatum. Monthly, B. undatum samples were obtained from Welsh fishers between May 2013 and May 2014 from eight sites at four locations (n ¼ 5080). All whelks were sexed, weighed, and measured, and up to 60 whelks from each location were assessed fo...
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For EU member states to meet the requirements of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the reformed Common Fisheries Policy, it will be necessary to improve data collection related to many fisheries that are at present subject to... more
For EU member states to meet the requirements of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the reformed Common Fisheries Policy, it will be necessary to improve data collection related to many fisheries that are at present subject to relatively little monitoring or scientific research. This study evaluated the use of on-board camera systems to collect data from Cancer pagurus and Homarus gammarus fisheries. We evaluated the reliability of the hardware and its ability to collect images of sufficient accuracy and precision compared with using on-board observers. Fishers and on-board observers passed animals removed from traps across a defined area. The relationship between the in situ and predicted measurements of carapace length of lobsters or carapace width (CW) of crabs was investigated. The mean difference between the predicted and real crab measurements was −0.853 mm with a standard error of 0.378 mm. Suggesting that the model tends to underestimate the real CW slightly. The me...
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The decapod crab species Cancer pagurus is currently the most valuable crab fishery in UK waters. Fecundity is the reproductive rate of crabs measured by the number of eggs she produces; which is important for fisheries managers, as it is... more
The decapod crab species Cancer pagurus is currently the most valuable crab fishery in UK waters. Fecundity is the reproductive rate of crabs measured by the number of eggs she produces; which is important for fisheries managers, as it is used to calculate the reproductive potential of a stock. Together with information on survival between life stages it is possible to estimate the expected number of recruits entering each life stage and then into the fishery. To date no published studies report the fecundity for Welsh C. pagurus; although there are a number of published studies on C. pagurus from the North Sea. A total of 96 gravid female C. pagurus were obtained from the static gear fishery in Welsh waters in 2014. Morphometric measurements were taken and external eggs were staged, measured and counted. Crabs were then dissected and internal ovary structure and condition was noted and hepatopancreas was removed and weighed to determine an index of body condition. The state of the ...
Summary 1. Methods for assessing habitat sensitivity to human impacts are needed to gauge the sustainability of existing impacts, develop spatial management plans and support meaningful environmental impact assessments. These methods... more
Summary 1. Methods for assessing habitat sensitivity to human impacts are needed to gauge the sustainability of existing impacts, develop spatial management plans and support meaningful environmental impact assessments. These methods should be quantitative, validated, repeatable and applicable at the scales of impact and management. 2. Existing methods for assessing the sensitivity of marine habitats to human impacts have tended
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Marine spatial planning (MSP) is promoted as a more integrated system of management for human activities at sea. In a context of Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (EBFM), the key to the success of MSP is accurate, timely, and... more
Marine spatial planning (MSP) is promoted as a more integrated system of management for human activities at sea. In a context of Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (EBFM), the key to the success of MSP is accurate, timely, and representative spatial information on trawling activities and the pressures they exert on the seabed and related benthic communities. First of all the study provides an assessment of the spatial extent of otter trawling activity to a fishing ground scale in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea. Afterwards, considering the patchiness of this activity and the resulting bearing on the persistence of benthic communities, the fishing intensity effects were tested on each surveyed epibenthic communities. The high-resolution spatial distribution of fishing effort was evaluated through the Vessel Monitoring System data analysis. The study analysed the non-target epibenthic fraction incidentally caught by a “Maireta” otter trawl net from 2010 to 2013. The presence of a Fisher...
Research Interests: Marine biodiversity, Cultural Diversity, Biological Sciences, Biodiversity Conservation, Environmental Sciences, and 13 moreFace to Face, Biological Diversity, Contingent valuation, Biological Conservation, Case Study, Environmental awareness, Biological, Species conservation, Cultural difference, Species Richness, Willingness to Pay, BIODIVERSITY LOSS, and Marine Mammal
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Marine fisheries are in decline and the existence of poorly defined property rights is a contributory cause of this decline. The allocation of property rights can bring benefits in terms of enhancing biological sustainability and economic... more
Marine fisheries are in decline and the existence of poorly defined property rights is a contributory cause of this decline. The allocation of property rights can bring benefits in terms of enhancing biological sustainability and economic profitability. However, to date few studies have analysed the behaviour of fishers who have been granted such property rights. Such studies are important if
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... By keyword. aquaculture Haematopus ostralegus mussel Mytilus edulis oystercatcher By author. Richard WG Caldow Helen A. Beadman Selwyn McGrorty Richard A. Stillman John D. Goss-Custard Sarah EA le V. dit Durell Andrew D. West Michel... more
... By keyword. aquaculture Haematopus ostralegus mussel Mytilus edulis oystercatcher By author. Richard WG Caldow Helen A. Beadman Selwyn McGrorty Richard A. Stillman John D. Goss-Custard Sarah EA le V. dit Durell Andrew D. West Michel J. Kaiser Kim Mould Andrew ...