ALKOR AL616

The research cruise AL616 with RV ALKOR is part of the BMBF-funded second phase of the DAM project "Exclusion of mobile bottom-touching fisheries (MGF) in marine protected areas of the Baltic Sea - Phase II (MGF-Ostsee-II)". The joint project is coordinated by the Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW, Prof. Klaus Jürgens).
During the research cruise, an experimental field study will be carried out in a working area northwest of Rostock-Warnemünde (German Baltic Sea) to investigate the effects of MGF on the benthic ecosystem. A sparsely fished area within the 3 nautical mile zone was selected as the study area on the basis of geoacoustic and sedimentological criteria. In one sub-area, high-density tows are used to simulate heavy fishing, while a neighboring sub-area remains undisturbed and serves as a control area. In both areas, the parameters of the various sub-projects are repeatedly examined over a period of 3 weeks using the same methodology in order to record the regenerative capacity of the benthic ecosystem. In a further sub-area, which will only be fished once, diver-supported sediment investigations will be carried out in small-scale sediment disturbances (e.g. trawlmarks). The investigations include the analysis of benthic communities, the morphology of the seabed, sediment biogeochemistry and in situ flux measurements.
In addition to the benthic work, investigations of the particle plume produced during trawling and imaging studies of the seabed will be carried out. In order to meet the high personnel and space requirements as well as the temporal coordination of the equipment deployments, the biological and sedimentological investigations will be carried out on the RV Elisabeth Mann Borgese, while the biogeochemical investigations as well as supplementary work to record the sediment plume and the imaging of the seabed will be carried out on the RV Alkor.