Marine ecosystem services and their management

To ensure sustainable development, economics and environmental protection, the exploitation and use of natural resources must be reconciled. This in turn calls for new systems for evaluating ecosystem services. Sustainable fisheries and protection for marine ecosystems – the CEN provides the expertise, forecasting models and infrastructure needed for professional environmental monitoring and assessments. Researchers from economics, the natural and social sciences work on management strategies at the national and EU level. Focus areas: the North Sea and Baltic Sea; use conflicts in coastal protection, fisheries and wind energy.

Coordination: Prof. Kay Emeis, Prof. Christian Möllmann

BONUS BLUEWEBS - Blue Growth boundaries in novel Baltic food webs

Global climate change will likely result in combinations of physical oceanographic conditions never encountered before. In addition, regional anthropogenic impacts of fisheries exploitation or invasion of non-indigenous species are affecting the ecosystem. These impacts have already caused novel food webs that significantly differ in structure and function from historical predecessors. The BLUEWEBS project wants to reveal the changes of food webs due to global change and will address knowledge gaps concerning the functioning of novel Baltic Sea food webs.

Duration: 2017 - 2020
Project Lead Hamburg: Prof. Christian Möllmann
Project Lead: Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Sponsor: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), European Union

More Information

BONUS INSPIRE - INtegrating SPatIal pRocesses into Ecosystem models for sustainable utilization of fish resources

Cod, herring, sprat and flounder form more than 95 percent of commercial catches in the Baltic and are at the same time representing key elements in the functioning of the ecosystem. The BONUS INSPIRE project is designed to advance the knowledge on these fish species. Therefore the project conducts pilot ecosystem field surveys that help resolving the habitat requirements of different life-stages of these species. Traditional methods and modern advanced analysis and modelling techniques are combined.

Duration: 2015 - 2018
Project Lead Hamburg: Prof. Dr. Christian Möllmann
Project Lead: University of Tartu, Estonia
Sponsor: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), European Union

More information

CERES - Climate change and European Aquatic RESources

CERES advances a cause-and-effect understanding of how climate change will influence Europe’s most important fish and shellfish resources and the economic activities depending on them. It will provide tools and develop adaptive strategies allowing fisheries and aquaculture sectors and their governance to anticipate and prepare for adverse changes or future benefits of climate change.

Duration: 2016-2020
Project leader: Prof. Myron Peck
Sponsor: European Kommission, Horizon2020

Project website

FINGNUTS - part of the cooperative project "MEGAPOL"

The project "FINGNUTS" is a part of the cooperative project called "MEGAPOL - Megacity’s fingerprint in Chinese southern marginal seas: Investigation of pollutant fingerprints and dispersal", which aims to study the marine environmental conditions in an area spanning from the northern shelf in proximity to Pearl River of the South China Sea towards the deep sea, to enhance our understanding of the effects of growing anthropogenic pressure in a highly dynamic marine ecosystem governed by natural variability ranging on space scales from small to mesoscale and time from daily to decadal. This consortiums with 4 German and 5 Chinese partners work is closely linked to the complementary twin project "Megacity’s fingerprint in Chinese eastern marginal seas: Investigation of pollutant fingerprints and dispersal" coordinated by Dr. Pohlmann and Dr. Gaye (Univ. HH), regionally focussed on Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea and the Yangtse River. Samples will be gained and exchanged between the twin projects aiming at an overview of the regional distribution of several substances within the partitions water, suspended matter and sediment.

Duration: 01.04.2017 - 31.03.2020
Project Lead Hamburg: PD Dr. Thomas Pohlmann, Dr. Birgit Gaye
Project Lead MEGAPOL: Prof. Joanna Waniek, Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde

Sponsor: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)

More Information

FutureMARES

Preserving and restoring habitats, targeted conservation efforts, and sustainable harvesting can help adapt to climate change, and to mitigate its impacts. This is the core idea behind the FutureMares project: “Our goal is to test and implement these three types of nature-based solution in diverse marine and coastal ecosystems,” explains coordinator Prof. Myron Peck from the Institute of Marine Ecosystem and Fishery Science (IMF), and a member of the Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability. “In this regard, refuges, intelligent fishery and aquaculture management, and the restoration of seagrass beds as central ‘nurseries’ for a host of species can make a meaningful difference.” Together with 32 partners from 15 countries, Universität Hamburg is pursuing research in Europe’s seas, in coastal regions from the Mediterranean to Norway, and off the coasts of Central and South America. The project, which the European Union has supported with 8.6 million euros of funding (Universität Hamburg: 1.2 million euros) encompasses physical, ecological, economic and social research.

Duration: 2020 - ongoing
Project leader: Prof. Myron Peck, Institute of Marine Ecosystem and Fishery Science of Universität Hamburg
Sponsor: European Union

GENUS - Geochemistry and Ecology of the Namibian Upwelling System

How do ecosystems in our oceans react to climate change? In some cases, with drastic changes in global and regional material flows, which can in turn produce considerable ecological and socioeconomic impacts (concerning e.g. diversity of species, fishing). The GENUS Project (Geochemistry and Ecology of the Namibian Upwelling System) is currently exploring the potential effects off the coast of southwest Africa, a research site where the interplay between climatic causes and ecological effects more clearly manifests itself than in other regions, primarily because environmental changes directly affect the extremely short food chain found in the Benguela upwelling area.

GENUS is part of the SPACES research program. The project involves institutions from Hamburg, Geesthacht, Bremen, Bremerhaven and Warnemünde, as well as partners from Namibia, South Africa and Angola.

Duration: 2009-2015
Project leader: Prof. Dr. Kay Emeis
Sponsor: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

Project website

Humboldt Tipping - Social-Ecological Tipping Points of the Northern Humboldt Current Upwelling System

In the Humboldt Current off the west coast of South America, gigantic nine million tons of fish are caught every year to date. At the same time, whales, seabirds and a functioning ecosystem are becoming increasingly important for tourism in the region. However, the productivity of the area is extremely variable and climate change could also change ocean currents and nutrient inputs. How does this affect anchovy fishing, for example - and does a decline mean an irreversible tipping point? The aim is to find adaptation options that help secure local livelihoods, reduce economic risks and make coastal communities more resilient.

Duration: 2019 - 2022
Project lead: Universität Kiel
Project lead Hamburg: Prof. Myron Peck
Funding: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)

Go to homepage

Index - Indian Ocean Exploration

The Biogeochemistry Research Group of the Institute of Geology actively supports the research and exploration program INDEX since 2015. In the Indian Ocean, southeast of Madagascar, three continental plate boundaries meet at the so-called Rodrigues Triple Junction. In this German license area of over 10.000 km2, the BGR (Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe) officially conducts a detailed pre-exploration program on polymetallic sulfides. The program includes the outline of potential ore deposits and a resource assessment but also extensive and detailed base line studies for the sustainable protection of the marine environment.

Duration: 01.04.2015 - 31.03.2030
Project Lead Hamburg: Dr. Niko Lahajnar
Project Lead: Dr. Ulrich Schwarz-Schampera, Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe

Sponsor: Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe

More Information

marEEshift - Marine ecological-economic systems in the Western Baltic Sea and beyond: Shifting the baseline to a regime of sustainability

Herring and cod are the most important food fish species in the western Baltic Sea - and their existence is extremely threatened. In 2016, the commercial fishing quota for cod had to be reduced by more than 50 percent. For the first time, a so-called "daily bag-limit" was introduced for private anglers. The aim of the project is to identify key factors and to test how robust the ecosystem still is. Central thesis: Course corrections and targeted fisheries management result in a regime shift towards sustainability.

Duration: 2017 - 2022
Project Lead: University Kiel
Sponsor: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

More Information

MARmaED - MARine MAnagement and Ecosystem Dynamics under climate change

MARmaED is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie European Training Network under Horizon 2020. It is designed to explore and investigate marine ecosystem change in careful detail from physical and biological effects to economic management implications. It is unique in the way it integrates effect studies with economic perspectives. A key element of MARmaED is using 15 PhD positions to create new trans-disciplinary collaborations.

Duration: 2015 - 2019
Project Lead Hamburg: Prof. Dr. Christian Möllmann
Project Lead: University of Oslo, Norway
Sponsor: European Union

More Information

MISSION ATLANTIC

Climate change, environmental risks and the fishing industry are putting food webs in the Atlantic under increasing pressure: “Plankton and fish species are now less productive, distribution ranges are changing, and important species that normally serve as predator or prey are suddenly disappearing – producing massive population fluctuations,” reports Dr. Saskia A. Otto from the Institute of Marine Ecosystem and Fishery Science (IMF). The goal of MISSION ATLANTIC is to take stock of, and provide a comprehensive assessment of, Atlantic ecosystems from sub-Arctic regions to Tropical ones. In this regard, ocean floor soils will also be evaluated, and the project team will intensively collaborate with stakeholders from the fishing industry in order to explore various future scenarios. Supported with 11.5 million euros of funding (Universität Hamburg: 225,000 euros), the project will bring together 34 partners from Brazil, South Africa, the European Union, the USA and Canada.

Duration: 2020 - ongoing
Project leader Hamburg: Dr. Saskia Otto, Institute of Marine Ecosystem and Fishery Science at Universität Hamburg
Project leader: Technical University of Denmark
Sponsor: Europäische Union

NOAH – North Sea Assessment of Habitats

The NOAH project is one of five collaborating Research & Development projects that are committed to the “Coastal Research Agenda for the North Sea and Baltic Sea” (KüNO). The year project started in April 2013, has seven national partners and is coordinated by the Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht. Human pressures on sea floors of the North Sea are mounting and require a thorough inventory of status and functions of this important ecosystem component. The NOAH project has gathered multidisciplinary expertise to construct a comprehensive habitat atlas that assesses sea floor state and functions, and establishes baselines against which environmental changes can be determined.

Duration: 01.04.2013 - 31.03.2019
Project Lead Hamburg: Prof. Christian Möllmann
Project Lead: Prof. Kay Emeis

Sponsor: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)
Contact: Dr. Marcus Lange (HZG)

More Information

PANDORA – Paradigm for Novel Dynamic Oceanic Resource Assessments

The PANDORA project contributes to ensuring the long-term sustainability of European fisheries by advancing current models for fish stock assessments. In cooperation with regional stakeholders, PANDORA will create new biological knowledge, develop fisheries management scenarios and policy recommendations, and provide an online tool box for fishers, fisheries managers, decision- and policy-makers across Europe.

Duration: 01.05.2018 – 30.04.2022 (48 months)
Project Lead Hamburg: Prof. Dr. Myron Peck
Project Lead: Dr. Stefan Neuenfeldt, DTU Aqua, Kopenhagen, Dänemark
Contact Hamburg / Stakeholder Engagement: Dr. Vera Köpsel
Sponsor: European Commission, Horizon2020

More information

SeaUSeTip - Tipping points in the social-ecological system of the North Sea

Marine ecosystems worldwide suffer from the consequences of human activities. Abrupt changes, so-called "regime shifts", are becoming more and more probable under this pressure and in the wake of climate change. Fishery biologists, coastal researchers and environmental economists are studying the German North Sea and possible tipping points. How vulnerable and adaptable is the complex species structure and how could it be used more gently? The aim is to develop practical tools for environmentally sound management.

Duration: 2017 - 2022
Project Lead Hamburg: Prof. Christian Möllmann
Project Lead: Thuenen Institue of Sea Fisheries, Hamburg
Sponsor: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

More Information

TRAFFIC - Trophic TRAnsfer eFFICiency in the Benguela Current

TRAFFIC (Trophic TRAnsfer eFFICiency in the Benguela Current) is a project involving five German and five Namibian and South African institutes. Its aim is to understand the reasons for the decrease in fishing yields in the northern Benguela current and the causes of the major changes in the southern part of the current in order to incorporate these into future sustainable management. The Benguela current is one of the four highly productive coastal upwelling systems in the world. Studying and understanding the causes of this development is not only of great scientific interest. It is also crucial for future management that the essential processes and limiting factors in an ecosystem are understood. The Universität Hamburg in cooperation with the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research in Bremen is investigating the differences in the recycling efficiency of nutrients and how they affect the carbon capture of the biological carbon pump. This shall also clarify why parts of the Benguela region act as a carbon source, other as a carbon sink.

Duration: 01.10.2018 - 30.09.2021
Project Lead Hamburg: PD Dr. Tim Rixen, Dr. Niko Lahajnar
Project Lead TRAFFIC: Dr. Werner Ekau, Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung Bremen

Sponsor: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

More Information