NEWS
NEWS
Upcoming Event
18-19th NOVEMBER KELPPRO annual meeting will be arranged in Oslo.
Last field work campaign for WP4 completed!
Industrial kelp facilities as artificial kelp forests
After checking out the conditions in April (just before harvesting of the kelp in the farm), the team set out on a new trip in September, and this time after harvesting. Species of invertebrates and fish were collected in order to see if the species composition found in the farm is associated to the kelp growing there or if it’s just an effect of the infrastructure of ropes, lines and buoys (covering an area of approx. 250 x 300 m).
Click HERE for a preliminary report
with the results from WP4 work so far.
Recent Events
NORDIC BLUE CARBON WORKSHOP - September
A workshop in Nordic Blue Carbon Ecosystems (BCE) was held in Copenhagen.
Nordic Blue Carbon is a collaboration between the Blue Carbon Initiative (BCI) and the key experts on Blue Carbon in the Nordic countries.The workshops aim was to discuss the ocean forests potential to store CO2 and how it can mitigate climate change.
The KELPPRO project was represented by the Chief himself, Kasper Hancke:
Seaweed farming in Norway – Blue carbon and blue economy perspectives
AQUA NOR FAIR - August
Aqua Nor is an nternational meeting place for the aquaculture industry in Trondheim.
The KELPPRO project was represented at the Aqua Nor conference and a presentation was given about the positive and negative impacts of industrial-scaled kelp farming on coastal environments.
Hancke, K., Åtland, Å. & Fieler, R.
Positive og negative miljøpåvirkninger av storskala taredyrking
ARENDALSUKA - 12-16th August
The green shift in the sea - How to make room for a large kelp industry?
Seminar held by The Bellona Foundation.
Ole Jacob Broch (SINTEF) and Kasper Hancke (NIVA) from the KELPPRO team were invited to the seminar to talk about the potential of industrial kelp farming and the impacts on coastal environments.
Former News + Events
WP2 fieldwork- in situ decomposition experiment
Trying out Dory, our new Blueye underwater drone, to check the kelp decomposition status. Video coming soon!”
WP4 april fieldwork completed!
This workpackage focuses on the effect on kelp farms on the marine benthic ecosystems, including question like: will the kelp farm have a function as an “artificial” kelp forest.
Four scientists (Kasper Hancke, Eli Rinde, Hartvig Christie and Trine Bekkby) and two Master students headed off to Frøya collecting kelp and associated animals in a kelp farm (before harvesting) and sourrounding natural kelp forests. In order to see if the farmed kelp has any similarities with the natural kelp, animals were collected both in Saccharina latissima and Alaria esculents forests (as both these species are grown in the farm). Fauna associated with S. latissima seeded out at different times in the farm was also collected.
Animals were also collected in the Laminaria hyperborea kelp forests growing adjacent to the farm to see if the farmed kelp associated fauna was more similar to this species of kelp, growing just outside the farm, or if the farm has a kelp species specific fauna. Fauna traps were put out in the water masses as a control. In addition to fauna traps, fish were collected in both the farm, the natural kelp forests and in the water masses. Individual kelps from both the farm and the natural kelp forests were measured and weighed and epiphytic algae brought back to the lab.
Blueye ROV
The new Blueeye ROV has arrived and it has been given the name DORY! The name fits well with the ROVs skills and visuals as Dory is fast, energetic, curious, blue (and yellow?) and looking out for adventures, but also impulsive and short-minded never remembering where she has just been…
2018
READ KELPPROs annual report for 2018
KELPPROs ANNUAL MEETING
NOV 2018- Oslo Science Park
The first KELPPRO annual meeting was held in november. Participants from all partners were presented in addtion to representatives from the Norwegian Environment Agency and the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, among other.
WP2 FIELD WORK completed!
OCT 2018-T2.3 Impact studies on seafloor biodiversity and function
In October a WP2 cruise in Frohavet and Frøya was conducted on board NTNU's research vessel, R/V Gunnerus. Kasper Hancke and Gunhild Borgersen from NIVA were responsible for collecting benthic fauna and sediments and they can confirm that the old saying is true: there is a pot of gold (or at least some pretty nice core samples) at the end of the rainbow!
