Survey report (Part 1) from the joint Norwegian/Russian Ecosystem Survey in the Barents Sea and the adjacent waters August-October 2023 — Covering Survey Execution, Data Management, Plankton Community, Fish Recruitment, Commercial Pelagic Fish and Fish Biodiversity

Abstract

English summary Sammendrag The aim of the joint Norwegian/Russian ecosystem survey in the Barents Sea and adjacent waters, August-October (BESS) is to monitor the status and changes in the Barents Sea ecosystem and provide data to support stock advice and research. The survey has since 2004 been conducted annually in the autumn, as a collaboration between the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Norway and the Polar branch of the VNIRO (PINRO) in Russia. The general survey plan and tasks were agreed upon at the annual IMR-PINRO Meeting in March 2023. Ship routes and other technical details are agreed on by correspondence between the survey coordinators. BESS aims at covering the entire Barents Sea. Ecosystem stations are distributed in a 35×35 nautical mile regular grid, and the ship tracks follow this design. Exceptions are the area around Svalbard/Spitsbergen, some additional bottom trawl hauls for demersal fish survey indices estimation, and additional acoustic transects for the capelin stock size estimation. The 20-th BESS was carried out during the period from 10th August to 7th October by the Norwegian research vessels “Kronprins Haakon”, “G.O. Sars” and “Johan Hjort”, and the Russian vessels “Vilnyus”. This is a first part of the survey report summarising the observations and status assessments based on the survey data. The information obtained in BESS 2023 will be further used for the implementation of various international and national projects, assessment of fish and invertebrate stocks, environmental monitoring, etc.

Survey report (Part 1) from the joint Norwegian/Russian Ecosystem Survey in the Barents Sea and the adjacent waters August-October 2023 — Covering Survey Execution, Data Management, Plankton Community, Fish Recruitment, Commercial Pelagic Fish and Fish Biodiversity

Survey report (Part 1) from the joint Norwegian/Russian Ecosystem Survey in the Barents Sea and the adjacent waters August-October 2023 Toktrapport (Del 1) fra det norsk/russiske økosystemtoktet i Barentshavet og nærliggende Dekker Toktgjennomføring, Data behandling, Planktonsamfunn, Fiskerekruttering, Kommersielle pelagiske fiskearter og Fiskebiodiversitet