“This is great news for The Institute of Marine Research, but even better news for our partner countries,” was Åsmund Bjordal’s reaction after it was announced that the government was allocating NOK 440 million for a new research vessel.

Cruise report: 65 kilometers due west from the outer tip of Vikna in Nord-Trøndelag, just north of Haltenbanken, a ridge named Iverryggen is encountered. On the otherwise fairly flat topography Iverryggen rises more than 130 meters above the seafloor. On the slopes of Iverryggen many coral reefs are found, and this area is protected.

The need for additional research, and for international cooperation to provide advice that will ensure sustainable aquaculture were key topics when Karin Kroon Boxaspen gave the opening address at the 2012 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Annual Science Conference today.

70 % of the earth is covered by sea. This makes marine science an international scientific field. More than 600 of the world’s marine scientists come to Bergen next week (17-21 September). You are invited to meet with several of them!

In mid-September, R/V G.O. Sars embarked upon the 2012 MAREANO (Marine AREA database for Norwegian coastal and sea areas) fall survey. This year’s study area includes: coral reefs at Sula Reef outside South Trøndelag; several fishing areas along the route Kristiansund - Halten; and selected areas of the Møre Bank and Storegga North.

A recent study by the Institute of Marine Research, the University of Bergen and the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Norway shows that the northwest Barents Sea warmed substantially during the last decades. The temperature of the subsurface Atlantic Water in the northern Barents Sea increased rapidly during the late 1990s.

In an experiment where Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus (VHSV) was transmitted to Norwegian herring, almost half of the infected herring died. Although these results cannot be transferred directly into nature, they suggest that the virus may have an impact on mortality rates in Norwegian herring stocks.

Northeast Arctic cod have reached a new benchmark extending their distribution northward.
- We observed that cod have extended their distribution farther north and eastward.  They also seem that to have an adequate food supply, says oceanographer Harald Gjøsæter.