Cephalopod Recruitment from English Channel Spawning Habitats

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Main objective : The CRESH project aims to encourage a sustainable management of cephalopods in the Channel area. Indeed, cephalopods (squids and cuttlefishes) in this region are a shared resource, exploited by both French and British fishing industry. They represent an increasing proportion of the fishers’ incomes in both countries. The project studies cephalopod species, their different stages of development, their spawning grounds and the renewal of marine resources. CRESH offers to combine different statistics to update stock and recruitment assessments (level of repopulation by eggs and juveniles). Thanks to the collected data, the project also plans to provide recommendations to fishermen and to their partners for a sustainable cephalopod management. Main actions : - Compilation of pre-existing knowledge about egg and juvenile observations (questionnaires to fishermen, oyster framers and other persons with activities in the coastal zone including marine lab monitoring) - In situ observation of natural substratum where spawning females attach their eggs (English and French coastal waters) - Spatial analysis of potential spawning areas - Monitoring of paralarvae and juvenile hatched in different areas - Trophic relationships in egg-juvenile stages - Analysis of genetic differentiation and genetic barcoding of squid paralarvae - Tracking juvenile origin with trace elements and stable isotope analysis - Integration of new results about cohort strength into population modelling - Feasibility and usefulness of protecting measures for the preservation of ecosystem biodiversity

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