Flatfish Symposia

Starting from 1989

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History Flatfish symposia

How it started

1989 The concept of the flatfish symposia was initiated at the 1989 European Marine Biology Symposium in Oban, Scotland. A group of young scientists supported by Ray Beverton set up an international...

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In the beginning

1990 In the beginning, NIOZ played a central role by hosting the first three symposia in 1990, 1993 and 1996 and by offering generous financial and material support. The flatfish symposium 'left' NIOZ and...

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Upcoming Symposium

2024 The 11th IFS Symposium will be delayed until 2024 and held in Europe. Please check back soon for more details.

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Photo collection

By members of IFS and other

video collection

By members of IFS and other

Presentations

By participants of IFS10

Proceedings

Journal of Sea Research

European Plaice

36

inches is the maxium length plaice can reach

50

the number of years that plaice can survive in the wild

2

eyes both locates on the right side of the body

4-7

bony bumps running across back or head

Once every three years

In principle, the Flatfish Symposium is organised once every three years. Those who are interested in organizing a symposium are invited to contact the secretariat of the Steering Committee, preferably not later than a few months before the upcoming symposium. At the flatfish symposium, the Steering Committee will select the host of the next symposium. The Steering Committee would like to announce the location of the next symposium at the end of the current one. Therefore, requests to organise and host the next symposium need to be accompanied by a commitment to both the location and the costs. The Steering committee reserve the right to consider the most appropriate location in regard to maintaining the broad spectrum of interested flatfish biologists from a wide selection of countries across the globe.

 

Steering Committee

 

About European Plaice

Description: Right eyed flatfish. Colour is usually brownish but can be greyish or greenish to blend in with surroundings. Skin is fairly smooth with small scales and speckled with noticeable orange dots.

 

British Sea Fishing

Feeds on: Feeds mostly on marine worms, crustaceans and shellfish.

 

British Sea Fishing

Distribution: Found from spring to early autumn on muddy, sandy and shingle seabeds throughout UK and Irish waters. Also present throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

 

British Sea Fishing

Species: As well as the European plaice there are several other species commonly known as plaice throughout the world. These include the American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides), the Alaskan plaice (Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus) and the scale-eye placie (Acanthopsetta nadeshnyi).

 

British Sea Fishing

Recovery: Although plaice stocks have been under pressure they have been making something of a recovery in recent years. In order to help this continue anglers should ensure all plaice are over the minimum size limit of 28cm or even better over 30cm

 

British Sea Fishing

Over-fishing: IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) states that the worst years for over-fishing plaice were in the 1970s and 1980s, and since then the commercial fishing pressure on plaice has actually reduced.

 

British Sea Fishing

Previous Flatfish symposia

2017

Ifremer-AC Ouest

 

2014

NOAA-IPHC

 

2011

IMARES

 

2008

Lisbon University

 

2005

Kyoto University

 

2002

Liverpool University

 

1999

NCS University

 

1996

Royal NIOZ

 

1993

Royal NIOZ

 

1990

Royal NIOZ

 

We are very grateful for the use of the MSC photo-collection for the banners of this website. A part of this collection, including the name of the photographers, is shown in the Photo album MSC fishing trip.

The Marine Stewardship Council, MSC, is an international non-profit organisation established to address the problem of unsustainable fishing, and safeguard seafood supplies for the future.