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SANDEEL
Sandeels are considered key species in the marine ecosystem, as they form an important trophic link between the lower (i.e. zooplankton) and higher trophic levels such as piscivorous fish, marine mammals and birds. Because of their importance as a food source, sandeels are a species of conservation interest in Natura 2000 sites under the Habitats Directive and also under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. However, little is known about the distribution and habitat use of sand eels in the Belgian part of the North Sea (BPNS). Therefore, it is hard to make statements about the status of sand eels in the BPNS and the effect human activities have on this species.
This is mainly because sampling of this species is challenging as they occur both in the seabed and the water column and the temporal use of seabed versus water varies throughout the year. Moreover, current traditional sampling methods in Belgium (beam trawl or Van Veen grab) do not allow quantitative sampling. A targeted, innovative monitoring approach for sand eels is therefore needed. New techniques such as 'bottom-mounted' acoustic splitbeam echosounders and environmental DNA (eDNA) (both in the water column and in the sediment) are gaining importance as potential methods. A combination of bioacoustics and eDNA is likely to provide the most optimal method to study sand eel distribution and the effect human activities have on this species. Therefore, this PhD research aims to investigate the potential of both methods for mapping sandeel distribution