It requires in-depth knowledge of nature restoration and innovation in fishing gear to live up to the environmental requirements set out in the EU's biodiversity strategy and Marine Action Plan. Areas that DTU Aqua has long experience and solid research competences within. This summer, we looked a little at our own shelves.
The marine environment is under pressure, and the marine environment along the coasts in particular is vulnerable. Therefore, in continuation of the EU's Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the Marine Action Plan from earlier this year, the EU has now for the first time set out precise criteria for the protection of seabed habitats - for a seabed habitat to be considered to have good environmental condition, no more than 25 percent should be negatively affected by human pressure, and no more than 2 percent should be irreversibly lost, the criteria state.
It requires knowledge-based plans for nature restoration as well as new thinking in fishing in the form of tools that put the least possible pressure on life and the conditions in the sea, to live up to the new necessary marine protection requirements. Areas such as DTU Aqua have long experience and solid research skills within.
As a summer exercise, we have looked a little inward at researchers and projects that play directly into the areas where marine nature and the EU call for solutions.
Bycatch and rock reefs
20 out of 160 researchers, including PhDs, at DTU Aqua deal with everything within gear development – from fishing nets to seal-proof fishing traps, mini-seine nets, nets made of biodegradable materials, scarers targeting marine mammals and birds and trawls.
The focal point of DTU Aqua's research and development in fishing technology is to develop gear with less environmental impact – that is, less impact on the bottom, less plastic in the sea, less fuel consumption and less bycatch of marine mammals, less bycatch of fish below the minimum size and other unwanted fish.
DTU Aqua is currently working on a project SELEKT, hvor man udvikler forskellige typer fiskeredskaber, der ved hjælp af kunstig intelligens kan selektere fangsten i trawl og dermed hjælpe med at fiskerne kan sortere bifangst fra. I forårs- og sommerperioden er forskere og fiskere i gang med at teste nyudviklede fiskeredskaber.
In another research project, which has taken place as an extensive collaboration with net fishermen over 10 years, DTU Aqua's researchers together with Sweden's Agricultural University have investigated the extent and conditions surrounding bycatch of porpoises. A solid insight into where bycatch occurs and where it does not will help legislators to create sustainable management, and researchers to develop tools that can prevent bycatch of marine mammals.
Within nature restoration, DTU Aqua has launched several collaborations with external partners this year in a number of research projects. Among others, Coastal Life and the Nature Restoration Centre.
With the European Commission's large-scale plan for the restoration of European nature, 20 percent of European nature, both on land and at sea, must be restored by 2030.
According to the EU, nature restoration can be done, among other things, by rebuilding dykes and rebuilding rock reefs. You can also plant endangered nature such as eelgrass. Here, DTU Aqua has for the past few years e.g. worked extensively on establishing rock reefs along Danish coasts, i.a. in project BARREEF.
Internationalt forskningssamarbejde
DTU Aquas arbejde bliver udført i et internationalt forskningssamarbejde, og forskerne anvender den nyeste teknologi i form af redskabsmaterialer, design og dataanalyse, herunder lys, kameraer og Machine learning til analyse af billeddata, som i f.eks. SELEKT.
Samlet set er DTU Aquas arbejde inden for naturgenopretning og udvikling af redskabsteknologi til et bæredygtigt fiskeri en del af et globalt innovationsfyrtårn – gennem teknisk udvikling bidrager DTU til, at samfundet har den nødvendige viden til at sikre, at havets ressourcer kan forvaltes på en måde, der balancerer en ansvarlig fødevareproduktion og CO2-forbrug på redskaber i forhold til at opretholde sunde marine økosystemer.
DTU Aquas igangværende forsknings- og udviklingsprojekter inden for moderne fiskeriteknologi bliver støttet af forskellige finansieringskilder fra bl.a. EU, GUDP, H.C. Ørsteds Fond, Norsk Forskningsråd samt Den Europæiske Hav- og Fiskerifond og Fiskeristyrelsen.
Photo: Mikael van Deurs