Project description
Sustainable mesopelagic fisheries
The mesopelagic zone, at depths between 200 and 1 000 metres below the ocean’s surface, could contain a total fish biomass that is 100 times the annual catch of all existing fisheries. The EU-funded MEESO project will quantify the spatio-temporal distributions of biomass, production and ecosystem role of mesopelagic resources. It will assess options to sustainably exploit them. Mesopelagic organisms are one of the largest unexploited resource left in the world’s oceans. MEESO will develop new tools and technologies for abundance estimation, such as submersible acoustics and fine meshed trawls, as well as assessment and management roadmaps. MEESO will explore new technologies for commercial fishing and processing and map contaminant and nutrient contents to explore the basis for a viable and sustainable fishery. Its aim will be to find a balance between exploitation, sustainability and viability of the mesopelagic resources.
Objective
The overall goal of MEESO is to quantify the spatio-temporal distributions of biomass, production and ecosystem role of mesopelagic resources and to assess options to sustainably manage and govern their exploitation. To reach this goal, MEESO will create new knowledge and data on the mesopelagic community, its biodiversity, drivers of its biomass, its role in carbon sequestration, its role in the oceanic ecosystem and its interactions with the epipelagic community which includes several important commercial fish stocks. Besides applying state of the art experimental and quantitative methods, MEESO will develop and implement new acoustic and trawling technologies necessary for the knowledge and data generation in relation to this largely unknown and remote part of marine ecosystems. MEESO includes a significant amount of in-kind financing for technology development and scientific surveys. MEESO will apply the new knowledge and data to determine the potential of the mesopelagic biomass to be sustainably exploited for products included in the human food chain. For the first time combining leading experts in science, engineering, fisheries and governance, MEESO will develop commercial fishing and processing technologies and mapping of contaminant and nutrient contents to explore the basis for a viable fishery and creation of jobs. Mesopelagic organisms represent one of the largest unexploited resource left in the world's oceans, with a recent biomass estimate at 10 billion metric tons. The new tools and technologies, as well as assessment and management roadmaps, developed in MEESO will establish the trade-offs between exploitation, sustainability and viability of the resource, and identify options for its governance.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
5817 Bergen
Norway
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Participants (19)
H91 R673 Galway
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7052 Trondheim
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48395 Sukarrieta
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220 Hafnarfjörður
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6708 PB Wageningen
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2800 Kongens Lyngby
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G1 1XQ Glasgow
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1553 Kobenhavn V
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5353 Straume
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
211 18 Malmo
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31520 Ramonville St Agne
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9901-862 Horta
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9291 Tromso
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Participation ended
SN2 1FL Swindon
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R93 Carlow
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5003 Bergen
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Dun Laoghaire Co Dublin
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1609 Kobenhavn V
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SO14 3ZH Southampton
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