Faroes project to assess jellyfish threat
The Faroese Aquaculture Research Centre has announced the creation of GLOBECC, a newly funded project that will lay the foundation for monitoring jellyfish biodiversity in Faroese waters, with salmon farmer Bakkafrost taking part.
It says harmful jellyfish blooms are an increasing challenge for aquaculture in neighbouring countries such as Norway and Scotland, and climate change threatens to both increase the incidence and the severity of these blooms.
However, very little is known about jellyfish in Faroese waters. Which species are present? What are their distribution and lifecycles? Has this changed over time?
GLOBECC (Gelatinous Lifeforms in Faroese waters: Biodiversity, Regional Connectivity, and Capacity building) will lay the foundation for answering these important questions.
Led by Dr. Amanda Vang, head of the Biotechnology department at the Research Centre GLOBECC will draw on a multi-disciplinary team of Faroese and Norwegian research partners, as well as industry collaboration.
The two-year project will leverage existing marine research surveys from The Aquaculture Research Centre and the Faroe Islands Marine Institute, aquaculture monitoring initiatives with Bakkafrost, and citizen science projects with the Arctic Oceanarium of the Faroe Islands.
A main goal of the project is to establish the first reference database for Faroese jellyfish. This database will consist of microscope images and DNA analysis of jellyfish collected during the project. The database will then be used to design genetic tests for identification of high-risk species as a tool for Faroese aquaculture management.
A second goal is to create baseline data that can be used to track genetic changes in jellyfish community structure related to climate change on a regional and global level.
The centre says knowledge exchange is a central pillar of GLOBECC and several workshops are planned to build Faroese competence in gelatinous zooplankton taxonomy and foster marine stewardship through public science.
