Water Column Monitoring
As part of the monitoring of the water column along the west coast of Norway, NIVA investigated the extent to which the artificial reefs adjacent to the offshore energy facilities affected the availability of food for three types of cod fish - saithe, ling and tusk.
- Project period
- -
- Funders
- Equinor ASA
- Research section
- Marine biology
- Contact persons
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Adam Jon Andrews
Steven Brooks
Samantha Goncalves Prat
Bjørnar Andre Beylich
About the project
An stable isotope and condition analyses of three codfish species (saithe, ling, tusk) was completed from samples collected at Snorre platforms, Hywind Tampen and two reference locations. Using stable isotopes as a proxy for fish diet and residence, we find for all three species limited differences between offshore energy and reference sites.
Small differences that were present could be explained by size differences. However we found reduced stable nitrogen isotope values for ling at Hywind Tampen coinciding with a significant lower condition compared to other sites.
Our results indicate that codfish diets may not be significantly modified by artificial reef effects of offshore energy structures i.e. that either limited food provision is present and/or that residency times are limited.
