Food consumption of whiting, Merlangius merlangus, in the Eastern Irish Sea

Abstract In this paper, food intake of whiting Merlangius merlangus , in the Eastern Irish Sea is estimated using various models developed for food consumption. A new linear model for whiting is also developed and tested. The impact of whiting food consumption in the Irish Sea is considered. It was estimated that young whiting (age 0–3) eat between 1.29 and 6.57 g day −1 in February (temperature 7.8°C). By August when temperature has reached its annual maximum (18°C), these values increased by approximately 60–80%. The average recruited whiting stock in an area of approximately 150 km 2 in Red Wharf Bay, UK, was estimated to be 120 000 with a biomass of 22 t. Daily intake of sprat, sandeel and crab was 0.41, 0.14 and 0.14 g, respectively, for 0+ group. This was increased to 0.70, 0.80 and 0.94 g by the age of 4. On a daily basis the long term averages of the amount of sprat, sandeel and crab consumed were estimated to be 820, 370 and 520 g km −2  day −1 . The total food intake per year by the recruited whiting stock was 44.8 t of sprat (approx. 11.5 millions of sprat), 20 t of sandeel and 28.5 t of crab. The daily food consumption by whiting in this part of the Irish Sea was compared with the data from the North Sea and the rest of the Irish Sea and it was concluded that whiting eat more in the Irish Sea than they do in the North Sea.