An exciting event on pelagic fishing in the Northeast Atlantic

On Wednesday, 3 September, a very successful Ocean Cluster Faroes event on pelagic fisheries in the Northeast Atlantic was held. Around 40 people attended to hear presentations addressing various aspects of pelagic fisheries.

Niels Winther, Chair of the Board of Sjókovin, welcomed the participants. This was followed by a presentation by Marjun á Fríðriksmørk Berbisá, an industrial PhD student, who spoke about an exciting project on environmental DNA (eDNA). Marjun explained how environmental DNA can provide better insight into the migration patterns of pelagic fish and how this can lead to improved and more efficient monitoring surveys. In addition, she outlined the work ahead, which will focus on developing new tools and methodologies in collaboration with the fishing industry.

Mirjam Carlsdóttir Olsen, a researcher at Sjókovin, then presented results from the MarineSABRES project. Mirjam spoke about pelagic fisheries and sustainability, and reflected on how perspectives from different stakeholders can contribute to co-creating solutions to the challenges facing the sector. The presentation was based on interviews with various stakeholders from industry, administration, and research in the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland.

Finally, Sanna Laksá, an economist at Sjókovin, presented the new MeCCAM project, which aims to adapt European fisheries to climate change. Sanna outlined the various solutions that the MeCCAM project will develop and implement within pelagic fisheries in the Northeast Atlantic. These solutions include, among other things, examining the quality of pelagic fish in relation to fishing grounds, gear, chilling, and other factors in order to assess the costs of missing agreements; developing tools and software that improve fishing strategies and increase knowledge of the environmental impacts of fisheries across the entire value chain; and strengthening climate-informed biological advice.