The projects Principal objectives: Evaluate the effect of climate change in the Barents Sea and adjacent areas on distribution of fish stocks, in perspective of national marine areas.
The project is implemented by the Institute of Marine Research.
The fisheries in the Barent Sea are important to Norway and Russia. Iceland, Faroe Islands, Greenland and the EU also harvest the resources in the nutrient-rich marine area between Finnmark and Svalbard. The main species are cod, haddock and capelin.
The FishExchange research project - Expected Change in Fisheries in the Barent Sea - was launched in 2007. The main purpose of the project is to assess the effect of climate change in the Barent Sea and surrounding areas and how this affects the distribution of fish stocks from a national marine perspective. In addition, the project will examine the impact which this will have on the allocation of national quotas and the economic repercussions for the fisheries.
FishExchange has been run from the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen. The main partner involved has been the Institute for Research in Economics and Business Administration at the NHH in Bergen. The researchers have also collaborated with colleagues in other Nordic countries and Russia.
The researchers have now created a geographical database with a map generator on top. One of its facilities is to extract a map showing the historical distribution of temperature and the different age groups of fish. Researchers hope that the database will now be developed into a better tool for observing the links between climate and fish.
The researchers in the FishExchange project are establishing that fishing is the human factor which has the biggest impact on stock development nowadays in the Barent Sea, but human-induced climate change may also become a significant factor in the long term. They are also aware that depletion and natural climate variation in the sea must be considered in connection with this.
