Project

Project goals:

Develop the knowledge of discarding patterns and factors in European fisheries

Evaluate the effectiveness of selective devices and other discard management measures that have been implemented in the past.

Improve methods to analyze, monitor, and manage bycatch and discarding in European fisheries.

This project will develop an innovative method to attract and trap heavy metals in sea water and marine sediments on a cathode metal “sponge”, using electrochemical separation and precipitation of heavy metal ions, allowing effective removal from the marine environment. For this purpose, different 3D metal cathodes “sponges” will be printed out and tested for optimization of removal capacity, surface area and material use. We will measure water and sediments heavy metal concentrations before and after the test, to evaluate efficiency of the specific cathode “metal sponge”.

Understanding the marine environment is a key component to a more sustainable Earth. Technologies to automate data collection and analysis of the marine environment are necessary. Underwater cameras and AI (here in the form of computer vision algorithms) are predicted to play major roles in this regard. This research project takes its starting point in a recently established underwater camera setup that captures video in various conditions. The project aim is an underwater computer vision system that can estimate the visibility, prune the massive amounts of video so only images containing marine organism remains, and finally classify the marine organisms.

Since the reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy in 2002, effort has been devoted to addressing the governance, scientific, social and economic issues required to introduce an ecosystem approach to European marine fisheries.

Fisheries management needs to support the 'three pillars of sustainability' (ecological, social and economic). Fisheries Ecosystem Plans (FEPs) were developed to further the ecosystem approach in fisheries management and as a tool to assist managers consider the ecological, social and economic implications of their decisions. The FP5-funded European Fisheries Ecosystem Plan (EFEP) project developed a FEP for European waters, using the North Sea as a case study.

The core concept of the Making the European Fisheries Ecosystem Plan Operational (MEFEPO) project is the delivery of an operational framework for three regional seas. This is the necessary next step in the process. Furthermore, MEFEPO will, based on the lessons learned, consider how FEPs can be made operational and developed for other regional areas. MEFEPO will focus on how best to make current institutional frameworks responsive to an ecosystem approach to fisheries management at regional and pan-European levels in accordance with the principles of good governance. This will involve developing new linkages and means of allowing dialogue between the disparate groups of stakeholders, the integration of the considerable body of ecological, fisheries, social and economic research which has been developed in recent years and investigate how existing institutional frameworks need to evolve to incorporate this information and develop both dialogue between the disparate groups of marine stakeholders and develop a decision-making process which integrates a wide breadth of interests. The three areas used by MEFEPO will be the North Sea RAC, North-western Waters RAC and South-western Waters RAC areas.

Marine life makes a substantial contribution to the economy and society of Europe. VECTORS will elucidate the drivers, pressures and vectors that cause change in marine life, the mechanisms by which they do so, the impacts that they have on ecosystem structures and functioning, and on the economics of associated marine sectors and society. VECTORS will particularly focus on causes and consequences of invasive alien species, outbreak forming species, and changes in fish distribution and productivity. New and existing knowledge and insight will be synthesized and integrated to project changes in marine life, ecosystems and economies under future scenarios for adaptation and mitigation in the light of new technologies, fishing strategies and policy needs. VECTORS will evaluate current forms and mechanisms of marine governance in relation to the vectors of change. Based on its findings, VECTORS will provide solutions and tools for relevant stakeholders and policymakers, to be available for use during the lifetime of the project. The project will address a complex array of interests comprising areas of concern for marine life, biodiversity, sectoral interests, regional seas, and academic disciplines as well as the interests of stakeholders. VECTORS will ensure that the links and interactions between all these areas of interest are explored, explained, modeled and communicated effectively to the relevant stakeholders. The VECTORS consortium is extremely experienced and genuinely multidisciplinary. It includes a mixture of natural scientists with knowledge of socio-economic aspects, and social scientists (environmental economists, policy and governance analysts and environmental law specialists) with interests in natural system functioning.

For VECTORS, IFM researchers are focusing their research primarily on the Baltic and North Seas; theoretical work surrounds governance, stakeholder and sector interactions and input, and the cultural valuation of ecosystem services.

PERICLES is an EU-funded research and innovation project running from 2018-2021. PERICLES promotes sustainable, participatory governance of cultural heritage in European coastal and maritime regions through a unique interdisciplinary and geographically wide-ranging approach. The overall aim of the project is to develop and demonstrate a comprehensive framework to understand, preserve and utilize maritime cultural heritage for societal good.

Cultural heritage provides a sense of place, unity, and belonging. Rooted in specific landscapes, seascapes, buildings, stories, traditions, language, and cultural practices, cultural heritage is a fundamental part of every society. It connects people to each other and to the past and helps guide the future.

Protection and advocacy for cultural heritage can strengthen identity and local society, thereby improving the overall quality of life. Culture and heritage are essential in maintaining and building Europe's economic, social, cultural and natural capital. Realizing the potential of cultural heritage in these terms can generate prosperity, bring new jobs, enhance communities and improve environments in ways comparable to Blue Growth initiatives.

Yet, coastal cultural landscapes face risks from climate change, pollution, urbanisation, mass tourism, demographic challenges in remote regions, the fundamental transformation of the European fishing industry, neglect, and inconsistent policies of sea and shore conservation across governance scales and between regions.

A common challenge for structures submerged in water, such as offshore oil and gas platforms and wind turbine foundations, is marine fouling. The fouling consists of, for example, mussels and sea grass, which settle permanently on the structure and thereby increase both the volume and roughness of the material. This causes increased stress and fatigue of the structure, primarily due to increased wave loads and the weight of the fouling. Furthermore, the fouling complicates inspections of the structure, which are important for documenting the durability of the material. These disadvantages are reduced by cleaning the fouling off at regular intervals. Alternatively, the structure is oversized in the design phase to overcome the loads from marine fouling. Both methods are expensive for the production and/or operation of the structures and thus for energy production. In this project, two major players within Denmark's strengths, oil and gas (Total E&P) and wind (Siemens Gamesa), have joined forces to support the development of an improved concept for inspecting and combating marine fouling. The concept is based on improved robotic technology, which will raise the level of automation, as well as a compact setup that makes the operation independent of large environmentally polluting vessels, which the clean-up campaigns today depend on. The solution will finally be tested in the North Sea and will raise the technology from TRL 4 to TRL 7.

A more and more widespread way to protect the coast against ongoing erosion is to build so-called Low Crested Structures (LCSs). Despite a large number of coast parallel LCSs exist, the structural performance of these structures are not fully clarified. The LCSs dealt with are coast parallel detached rubble mound structures, either emerging slightly above the water surface or somewhat submerged like a reef.

Initially results of a study of the geometry of existing LCSs are presented. The geometry and structural performance of existing LCSs form the basis of the limits for new design equations. New improved design formulas for calculation of static stability of LCSs are developed on the basis of new 2D and 3D laboratory experiments with scale models. The formulas are specially designed for breakwaters subject to shallow water waves and/or depth limited waves, as the majority of existing LCSs are exposed to such conditions. The formulas are validated against prototype experience. Ecological aspects in relation to structural stability are important, and design guidance on how to consider ecology in the design is therefore given. The new design guidance adds practical and helpful knowledge to the toolbox of the designing engineer.

Description
100 kW EXOWAVE wave energy testing in Hanstholm.

Key results
• Design, build and demonstrate an Exowave wave energy converter (WEC) block at a 14-meter water depth in the Danish North Sea in conjunction with a hydro turbine driven electrical generator connected to the grid. The power generation would be +100 kW.
• Include learnings from EUDP1: numerical model verified by tank test (AAU) and CFD analysis (Delft University), feasibility study: wind and wave plant in very large scale, WEC detailed design and engineering, FAT and demonstration at DanWEC site.
• Assess the environmental impact and improve animal life by shaping the WEC foundation for fish breeding grounds.
• Life cycle analysis and include eco-friendly materials as waste materials from wind turbine blade waste materials.
• Assess supply chain in the North Sea region with special focus in Denmark and its raw material, production facilities, knowledge provider for fulfilling the aim above LOI target and support the Danish national energy target in 2030 and 2050. And to include the results in the design phase. The overall KPI here is to lower LCOE.
• TRL improve from 6 to 7

In Jammerbugt in Skagerrak, some of the most intensively fished Danish sea areas are found. The area is particularly characterised by the fact that all of the most important types of Danish fishing methods for demersal fishing for food fish take place. This applies to gillnets, which are fixed fishing gears, as well as beam trawls, purse seines and trawls, which are bottom-towed fishing gears. The different gears physically affect the seabed in different ways. Fixed fishing gears have relatively low impact and are therefore not included in this project. The habitats on the seabed in the area and the fauna associated with them have not been studied in particular detail. This is important in terms of being able to assess the effect of bottom-towed fishing gears.

There has therefore been a desire to have the impacts from bottom-towed fishing gears, with a main focus on beam trawls, investigated. Through monitoring work in 2023, this research project has investigated fishing activities, the impact of bottom-towed gears, habitats, fauna and biodiversity in general. Many different monitoring tools have been used to provide a broader understanding of these conditions, including: sidescan sonar, vessel satellite data, underwater drone, underwater video camera, towed Ockelmans sled, Van Veen grab for bottom samples, sound recordings and e-DNA. Taken together, the studies provide new general insight into marine nature and impacts from fishing activities with bottom-tow fishing gear in Jammerbugt.