Blue Box Seminar. Departments of Biology and Geography Joint Seminar Pål Buhl-Mortensen Institute of Marine Research, Norway.

Abstract: The MAREANO project (Marine AREA database for NOrwegian waters) conducts seabed mapping, upon request from the Norwegian government, in order to fill knowledge gaps in relation to the implementation of management plans for the different parts of the Norwegian EEZ. The project was launched in 2005 to support the implementation of ‘The Integrated Management Plan for the Marine Environment of the Barents Sea and the Sea Areas off the Lofoten Islands’. MAREANO is jointly financed by the Ministry for the Environment and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries. The goal is to obtain information that can be used as a scientific basis for the regulation of human activities such as the petroleum industry and fisheries. Information about benthic habitats and biological communities is important in implementing ecosystem-based management of the sea and in assessing the consequences of human activities. By using a variety of complementary sampling gears to ensure that a broad set of benthic organisms on all types of seabed are represented, MAREANO offers a unique insight into the diversity, biomass and production of benthic communities within various biotopes. The ten years anniversary, this year for Mareano has been marked with the publication of the book ”The Norwegian Sea Floor” which describes the bathymetry, surface sediments, bottom communities and pollutants from the Russian border in the north to  mid Norway in the south.