Transitioning from a precautionary to a science-based approach
for managing fish farms close to vulnerable deepwater species
funded by FHF
The project ‘VDWS Transitioning – from a precautionary to a science-based approach for managing fish farms close to vulnerable deepwater species’ is studying the impact of aquaculture on cold-water sensitive habitats and attempts to find indicators for ecological health condition of such habitats. It is led by IMR and comprises different research approaches ranging from molecular eDNA indicators to video analysis of ROV footage.
In our group, the PhD project of Birte is integrated into this project – entitled “Functioning and resilience of cold water coral and other vulnerable habitats along the Norwegian coast”.
Here we use a state-of–the art image and video annotation tools to study the benthic community response and visual stress levels of cold-water corals and sponge along enrichment gradients from aquaculture farms. In another exposure experiment we investigated the response of the cold-water coral Desmophyllum pertusum to anti-sea lice treatment (emamectin benzoate) in aquaculture. We collected the corals in the neighboring fjords and kept them in our experimental facilities at the research station. The experiment was the first that measured respiration, ammonium excretion, mucus production, and emamectin accumulation in cold-water corals. Results will be available soon.
Team / Collaborators:
Birte Schuppe, Henning Reiss, Henrik August Blix (all Benthic Ecology Team)
Pål Olsvik (Nord University)
Nigel Keeley, Kathrine Dunlop, Ana Cristina Da Silva Gomes, Tina Kutti (Institute fro Marine Research, IMR)
Thierry Baussant (NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS)
Johanna Järnegren (Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, NINA)
Top: the cold-water coral Desmophyllum pertusum, mid left: Birte scanning the experimental Desmophyllum specimen with a hyperspectral camera; mid right: Birte grinding the corals after the experiment for analysis of emamectin uptake; bottom: experimental set up during the respiratin measurements.
