Abstract

The round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is native to the Ponto-Caspian area but has spread to the Baltic Sea, most probably by ballast water. It was first reported in 1990 in the Bay of Gdansk where it now is the dominating coastal fish species. In 2008 the species was first reported in Sweden in the Karlskrona archipelago. The round goby is an invasive species with high reproductive turnover rate and it is highly tolerant to various environmental factors. There is a risk that it will compete with other benthic species like the native black goby, viviparous blenny and flounder. To investigate the occurrence of round goby, and at the same time get a baseline of what the ecosystem looked like before the round goby might change it, the Swedish Board of Fisheries in cooperation with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, made a monitory fishing using Nordic coastal survey nets in the Karlskrona archipelago in the summer 2009. Despite that only nine individuals of the round goby was caught it could be concluded that the round goby was as abundant as the native black goby and that it was in spawning condition. This means that it is highly likely that there is an established, reproducing round goby population in the Karlskrona archipelago. During 2010 two new areas were identified as risk-areas for establishment of round goby due to intensive ship traffic with the Bay of Gdansk; Karlshamn and Nynäshamn. Monitory fishing was performed in both areas but no round goby was caught. However, during 2010 reports from recreational fishermen came of the occurrences of round goby in Göteborg and Visby and also a catch of a single specimen in Karlshamn in 2009 was revealed. All areas of occurrence of round goby in Sweden hitherto belongs to the top ten seaports regarding traffic with the Bay of Gdansk. A habitat model of occurrence in Karlskrona pointed to the closeness to sea fairways as one of the most important factors to predict occurrence of round goby

Published in

Finfo Fiskeriverket Informerar
2011, Volume: 2, number: 2011:2, pages: 1-32
Publisher: Axel Wenblad

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/37047