Expertise in marine and aquatic ecology and genomics for sustainable management of fish and shellfish in Skagerrak-Kattegat-Øresund (MarGen) (39301)

The marine and freshwater regions encompassing Skagerrak, Kattegat, Øresund and the North Sea are biologically highly productive and contain plentiful living aquatic resources that are important for the region. At the same time the coastal areas are densely populated and industrialized, fish and shellfish resources are heavily harvested, and waters are subject to pollution and eutrophication. The region is also markedly affected by the ongoing global warming, with sea temperature rising nearly 2 degrees C during the last 40 years. These environmental pressures call for investigations into the consequences for aquatic organisms, their potential for adapting to environmental changes, and for identifying management strategies that could mitigate deteriorating environmental conditions, using state of-the-art methodology. Here, we will capitalize on the revolutionizing developments in genomics, electronic tagging and computer modelling to obtain insights on the ecology, evolution and management of aquatic biodiversity in the region.

The ØKS region harbours leading scientific environments within the aquatic, marine and genomic sciences that are complementary with respect to research and education and that would strongly benefit from better integration and networking. This proposal also aims to establish a research cluster and expand the number of active PhDs, postdocs and senior researchers within the region, thereby fostering an innovative research and educational network in the ØKS region.

Partners
DTU Aqua, National Institute of Aquatic Resources
Institute of Marine Research, Norway (coordinator)
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Aarhus University, Denmark
University of Oslo, Norway
Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Norway
University of Agder, Norway

Funding
This project is funded by EU, InterReg (regional collaboration).

Research area: Population Genetics
Research area: Freshwater Fisheries and Ecology