Celtic Seas

Blue whiting makes up nearly half of all catches. Other important species are mackerel, jacks and herring. Deep-sea trawling dominates in the north, from the ports of Ullapool (Scotland) and Kyllybegs (Ireland), and small-scale fishing is more frequent in the south. Aquaculture has shown strong development, with salmon farming in Scotland and Ireland, mussel farming in Munster (Ireland), Brittany and Normandy (France) and oyster farming in Brittany and Normandy.

Table: Major Northern Atlantic European commercial ports

(1) Million tonnes - Data for 2007 – Source: Eurostat (France for Le Havre), Department of Transport (UK), Central Statistic Office (Ireland)

(2) Million TEU (twenty-foot-equivalent units) – Data for 2007, rounded off to ten thousand - Source: Eurostat

The English Channel, however, is one of the world's major maritime routes between North Sea ports and the rest of the globe. Two main axes, one to and from North America, and the other to and from the Mediterranean, Africa and South America, merge in the Pas-de-Calais. The composition of this dense traffic is shown in the following table.

Maritime traffic in the west-east/east-west axis of the English Channel in 2007

Sources: Regional Operational Surveillance and Rescue Centres (CROSS) – Maritime Affairs

(1) Data identifying types of vessels.

(2) Only for the upward west-east direction; 90 000 including the downward direction registered in Dover

(3) At Cap Gris-Nez, oil and chemical tankers are grouped into a single "tankers" category

The Scotland-Irish Sea-Celtic Sea axis is also the site of dense east-west traffic between Ireland and Great Britain.

The European Union manages fisheries in the European waters within the framework of the Common Fisheries Policy and consults the North Western Waters Regional Advisory Council. The international waters come under the competence of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission, the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas for large pelagic species.

The region is governed by two marine environment agreements:

• The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR).

• The Bonn Agreement on marine pollution, for the English Channel.

They are characterised by a high tidal range and harsh winter storms. Salinity is variable: 37.5°/°° in the Atlantic and 35°/°° in the English Channel and Irish Sea. The main rivers are the Seine, Severn and Shannon. Seabeds generally feature a gentle slope and are relatively shallow (less than 200 m) up to the continental slope, beyond which great depths are found, for example the Rockall deep and the Porcupine deep-sea plain, at more than 2 000 m.

Its waters facilitated the Roman conquest of (Great) Britain (55 B.C.), the Scotti invasions of Scotland (4th century), the immigration of Britons into Armorica (5th century), the Viking raids (Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, 911), the Norman invasion of England (Battle of Hastings, 1066), the conquest of Ireland by England (1169) and different confrontations between France, Spain and England (14^th to 19^th centuries). All these conflicts did not disrupt the intensity of legal or illegal maritime trade across its shores, however. From the 17^th century, the boom in Atlantic trade encouraged the development of ports in the region, with the emergence of large sailing ship ports, such as Brest, Saint-Malo, Le Havre, Cherbourg, Plymouth, Bristol, Portsmouth, Liverpool, Southampton and Cobh-Cork.

Ports have declined in contemporary times. Fishing has become the dominant economic activity, together with seaside tourism that first appeared in the region from the mid-19^th century thanks to the development of railways. The English Channel, effectively protected by the mining of the Pas de Calais, was preserved during the First World War. On the other hand, it became a crucial strategic stake during the Second World War (Atlantic Wall, Normandy landings).

- G. AMERINI, Short Sea Shipping of goods 2000-2006 inStatistics in focus, 02/2008, Eurostat.

- D. ORTOLLAND & J.-P. PIRAT (Ed.), Atlas géopolitique des espaces maritimes: frontière, énergie, pêche et environnement, Editions Technip, Paris, 2008.

- J.-R. VANNEY, Introduction à la géographie de l’Océan, Institut Océanographique, Editions Océanis, Paris, 1991.