Acronym SEA PATCHES
Category
Fisheries
Title Sustainable harvesting of a patchy resource: aggregation mechanisms and implications for stock size estimates Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Sünnje Linnéa Basedow Coordinator email NA
Coordinator institution
UiT - The Arctic University of Norway (Norway)
Institutions involved
Akvaplan-niva - Akvaplan-niva AS (Norway) ,
IMR - Institute of Marine Research (Norway) ,
MFRI - Marine and Freshwater Research Institute of Iceland (Iceland) ,
SJTU - Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China) ,
NA - University of Strathclyde (United Kingdom) ,
Start year 2017 End year 2020 Funding (€) € 1,100,110 Website https://prosjektbanken.forskningsradet.no/en/project/FORISS/268391?Kilde=EU&distribution=Ar&chart=bar&calcType=funding&Sprak=no&sortBy=date&sortOrder=desc&resultCount=30&offset=930<P.1=LTP2+Klima%2C+milj%C3%B8+og+milj%C3%B8vennlig+energi&source=FORISS&projectId=270610 Summary The red feed Calanus finmarchicus is a key species in the North Atlantic that transfers primary production to commercially exploited fish species and to marine mammals and seabirds. Recently the Norwegian ministry released a management plan for this copepod based on a stock size of 33 million tons. However, stock size estimates are highly uncertain due to the challenges of sampling a marine species that is patchily distributed over a large geographical area. Recent observations show a high degree of patchiness in the red feed C. finmarchcius, but mechanisms for patch formation in the open ocean are poorly understood and remain a central issue in marine ecology. We thus propose an interdisciplinary project that will locate patches, and delineate physical and behavioural mechanisms
responsible for zooplankton patch formation in the ocean. Understanding the extent of patchiness in the distribution of species is of crucial importance when sampling to determine the stock size, and is also transferable to new technologies for revolutionizing harvesting methods for a sustainable management of marine resources. Our approach is:
1) to locate patches of C. finmarchicus in summer based on proven, state-of-the-art methods (laser optical plankton counter, video plankton recorder, fish acoustics) and on novel technology (hyperspectral RAMSES radiometers) that will explore the optical contribution of C. finmarchicus to
reflectance signals from satellite, 2) to analyse zooplankton patch structure in detail in order to provide the basic data necessary for stock size estimations, and 3) to delineate physical and biological mechanisms of zooplankton patch formation based on a combination of experiments and physical-biogeochemical behaviour models.
Taking such an innovative approach based on contemporary instruments and models we will provide the new fundamental knowledge necessary to develop robust and well-founded models of stock-size estimates of an increasingly harvested species.
Keywords
Zooplankton;
Biology;
Marine Region
76
Not associated to marine areas
0
Marine Region Map
