Acronym LOTROMIX
Category
Aquaculture
Title Lower trophic level mixed Fisheries; implications for ecosystem and management 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 Espen Strand Coordinator email NA
Coordinator institution
IMR - Institute of Marine Research (Norway)
Institutions involved
NA - Dalhousie University (Canada) ,
NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway) ,
UoS - University of Stirling (United Kingdom) ,
Start year 2015 End year 2017 Funding (€) € 600,000 Website https://prosjektbanken.forskningsradet.no/en/project/FORISS/243886?Kilde=FORISS&distribution=Ar&chart=bar&calcType=funding&Sprak=no&sortBy=date&sortOrder=desc&resultCount=30&offset=120&TemaEmne.2=Fiskeri Summary Following a steadily increasing demand from the aquaculture industry for raw materials for feed production, there is an increasing interest in harvesting lower trophic level organisms as a new source for marine protein and lipids. Before a potential commercial fishery on lower trophic level species can be started, we need to establish sound scientific knowledge about the targeted ecosystem and assess the potential consequences posed by the harvest in order to manage such a resource within a sustainable framework.
Economically viable harvest most often requires some sort of aggregation of biomass (i.e. spawning grounds, fish schools, overwintering area). One of the most promising aggregation of marine lower trophic level biomass is the mesopelagic layer, often referred to as the 'deep scattering layer' by the way it is observed on echo sounders. However, a fishery targeted at the mesopelagic layer would necessarily imply a mixed fishery as the layer consists of a wide range of species. The main goal of LOTROMIX will be to quantify the species composition, biomass distribution and production on a temporal and spatial scale in the Norwegian Sea and further analyse the quality of the catch for feed production and assess potential ecological consequences of mixed fishery on this unexploited resource.
Since the start of the project earlier this year, existing data have been gathered and quality controlled. This data material will be used together with new data obtained by LOTROMIX cruises. In November 2015, the first scientific cruise will be taken and samples from important mesopelagic species will be fixated on board and sent for composition analysis at our international collaborators research institutions.
Keywords
Animal feed;
Sustainability;
Fisheries management;
Feed composition;
Stock assessment;
Environmental impact;
Marine Region
44
Spitzbergen and Bear Island (27.IIb)
41
Norwegian Sea (27.IIa)
2
Marine Region Map
