KD-2018-091 Herbemonstering Kokkelbestand Waddenzee (BO-43-023.02-028)

Every spring, Wageningen Marine Research makes an assessment of the cockle stock present on tidal flats in Dutch coastal waters. For the Wadden Sea, the cockle stock present on September 1st is estimated based on the spring stock, assuming a summer mortality of 28%. The quota for cockle fisheries are based on this autumn stock. Because of an extremely high mortality in the summer of 2018, likely due to a prolonged heat wave, the autumn stock may have been severely overestimated. To estimate the extent of the mortality and make a more reliable estimate of the autumn stock, a limited resampling is carried out before the end of September. Sampling is done by the Waddenunit of LNV. Samples are processed by WMR, and the autumn stock will be estimated before the end of October.