No evidence that the Atlantic jackknife clam Ensis leei benefits from shrimp fisheries

Few experimental studies have been performed on the impact of shrimp fisheries on benthic life. One recent study observed an increase in densities of the Atlantic jackknife clam in hydraulic dredge samples at heavily fished plots and hypothesized that individuals may have been attracted by and immigrated into the disturbed areas (Tulp et al., 2020). We analysed additional box core data taken in the same experiment, and the results could not support this hypothesis. An alternative hypothesis that high densities of clams were coincidentally present in the heavily fished areas already before fishing, but were then too small to be included in the dredge, could neither be confirmed. Additional experiments are required to shed more light on the possible impact of shrimp fisheries on clam abundance and distribution. • Our study is one of the few experimental studies that have been performed on the impact of shrimp fisheries on benthic life • Our study does not confirm the previous suggestion that the Atlantic jackknife clam profits from the fisheries • We advocate additional field experiments, with a wide spatial coverage, to shed more light on the idea that the Atlantic jackknife clam could possibly profit from the shrimp fisheries