Various types of sponges, sea pens and corals are the key species in the seven biotopes that have been discovered on the bottom of the sea in the areas off northern Norway mapped by the MAREANO programme. Now a new map showing the location of these vulnerable biotopes has been published on the project’s map service.

The knowledge basis for the update of the “Integrated Management Plan for the Norwegian Part of the Barents Sea and the Areas outside Lofoten” was presented 15^th of April. The Management Forum (overarching body for the process) presented a report on the update of the integrated management plan for the Norwegian part of the Barents Sea – Lofoten. The report is made in cooperation with the Monitoring Group and the Risk Management Group.

Corals in a multitude of shades of white, pink and orange shone towards the sea surface from the legs of a platform that was recently dragged into Hardangerfjorden from the North Sea. The most colourful coral was the reef-building Lophelia pertusa, but a far rarer visitor was also discovered. The non-branching deep-water coral Desmophyllum cristagalli has only been found in Norway on two previous occasions.