A transatlantic innovation arena for sustainable development in the Arctic

Last week Tromsø was the venue for the science-planning meeting for the project "CoArc: A transatlantic innovation arena for sustainable development in the Arctic".Seven collaborators from Canada and France met with local members of ARCTOS (The Arctic Marine Ecosystem Research Network) and invited guests. The aim of the meeting was to define the work plan in the work package on 'Trans-Atlantic ecosystem understanding. This 4-year project, financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, involving Akvaplan-niva, UiT The Arctic University of Norway the Institute of Marine Research (IMR), and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), will investigate the structure and function of marine ecosystems in the Barents Sea and Newfoundland shelf. Energy-flow pathways, food-web characteristics, responses to environmental drivers, and impacts of human activities will be assessed using the large databases contained at IMR and DFO. The two systems have experienced major changes in the last 20-25 years, Crashes in cod (and many other fish stocks) in Canada contrast with record high levels of cod in the Barents Sea. The reasons behind this will be explored, and vulnerability to petroleum exploration in both regions will be assessed.