IntroductionBeam trawl fishery has been questioned from both economic and ecological perspectives. One of the alternatives is trammel net fisheries, a passive fishery with a higher economic potential, as it is much less dependent on fuel. However, its environmental impact has only limitedly been quantified for the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS). The effects of beam trawl and trammel net fisheries are partially being reviewed within the WAKO-I project  and knowledge gaps have been identified.WAKO-II will address these gaps and aims at an integrated assessment of the effects of beam trawl and trammel net fisheries for five structural ecosystem components: endofaunal and epifaunal invertebrates, fish, seabirds and marine mammals at the BPNS.The integration of spatial full cover distribution maps of key species, sensitivity analyses and the best available information on fishing effort will enable us to spatially map the impact of the two most important Belgian fisheries and will provide a baseline for the development of policies, leading to an appropriate environmental management and a sustainable coastal fisheries management for both beam trawl and trammel net fisheries.  More information can be found on www.ilvo.vlaanderen.be/wako Objectives1.            Quantification of major direct, short-term pressures for the Belgian part of the North Sea, originating from trammel net and beam trawl fisheries.2.            Development and application of a methodology to assess sensitivity to trammel net and/or beam trawl fisheries disturbance for a range of key species from five ecosystem components, namely endofauna, epifauna, fish, seabirds and marine mammals.3.            Spatial and/or temporal distribution maps of key species, assessed for their level of sensitivity to trammel net and/or beam trawl fisheries.4.            Integration of the sensitivity maps of the assessed key species for the Belgian part of the North Sea and relation to fishing effort of both type of fisheries.