The common scoter and spisula fishing

The common scoter is primarily found inshore, where it lives on the bivalve spisula. It is therefore affected by spisula fishing.

Current situation

In the Netherlands common scoters are almost invariably found near the coast (i.e. where the sea is no more than 20 m deep), because this species dives to the sea floor to get food. The birds feed mainly on the bivalve spisula, which often occurs in large concentrations. The common scoters tend to congregate above such concentrations. In the period 1993-2001 the bird was observed in only a few areas north of the Wadden islands and west of Noord-Holland. During that period the numbers of overwintering birds fluctuated from 30 000 to over 100 000.

Shellfish fishing inshore affects the common scoter. There has been a moratorium on commercial spisula fishing along the Wadden coast since 1999, because of low stocks of the bivalve.