The round, lumpy fish with the name roengkall works for life. He is responsible for the eggs of more than seven court fish, called rognjeks. They are all covered by a thread-like algae called larv, just before they are about to hatch. The marine conservation area Saltstraumen is not alone in being invaded by the algae. Researchers and divers are concerned about the animal and plant life along the entire Norwegian coast. Never looked like this before Lurv is a problem along the entire coast and has caused major problems in the Oslo Fjord. Algae is an indicator of places that have been fertilized too much by sewage, agricultural pollution, fish farming and the like. Borghild Johanne Viem runs the diving center Nord & Ne together with Fredric Ihrse. They guide tourists and are well known in what is considered the world’s strongest tidal current; Salt trauma. Borghild Johanne Viem from Nord & Ne says that they have no statistics on whether there are fewer fish in Saltstraumen. But they have only seen about three roe calls this year. Usually they see several. Photo: Private – Life down there is completely unique. It is diverse and by no means mapped, she says. But now the diversity is in danger of being attacked by wolves. It could mean the end for a number of plants and animals on the seabed. – The idea of suffocating it with fish traps, rubbish and fur is extremely tragic. The sedge lays like a layer over kelp forest, eelgrass beds and seaweed communities. This makes the breeding area, or nursery, of many types of fish unlivable. Photo: AABippe Havik / There are a total of five strong tidal currents in the world. Of them, only two can be seen and experienced from land. They are located in Norway and Japan. Only one of them will be dived in: the Saltstraumen. – Norway does not take responsibility. There are no equivalent places in the world. Viem has been snorkelling and diving in Saltstraumen for several years. Never before has she seen the stream so full of fur. Therefore, she decided to follow the roe call. The rognkallen the divers followed in Saltstraumen was completely covered in fur. He used all the time to blow away the filamentous algae from several hundred thousand eggs that he guarded. Rognkallen is a kind of super-dad. He guards several hundred thousand eggs for various roe biscuits. Would he be able to save the roe crackers of the future from the algae? Threatening life under water Rognkjeks is used in the farming industry to pick lice from the salmon, but he gets pretty little in return. Researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Eli Rinde, believes that the discharge from the salmon farming industry may be part of the problem. Researcher Eli Rinde, from the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), is concerned that the slush is destroying several unique types of nature along the Norwegian coast. Photo: Vegar Erstad / news According to a report drawn up by NIVA, there has been a sharp increase in the release of nutrient salt from salmon farming since 1990. – We have observed that there are several signs of litter along the entire coast. It may perhaps be linked to the fact that we have increased the release of nutrient salt from farming. Rinde in NIVA says eelgrass beds, kelp forests and seaweed communities are now run down: – If they are run down, it could mean that we lose these natural types. Photo: Vebjørn Karlsen / private Ho adds: – At the same time, it has become warmer in the sea. It reinforces the appearance of fur. – The Saltstraumen is a marine protected area. Will the protection be good enough? – No, it doesn’t seem like that. There are no restrictions on fishing and no raising of sewage in the Saltstraumen. She points out that many lead sinkers and fishing tendons are stuck to the seabed. It harms fish and wildlife. – It is clear that it is not taken care of as it should be. READ ALSO: State Administrator County Environmental Protection Manager Oddlaug Ellen Knutsen, in the climate and environment department at the State Administrator in Nordland, says that there is good reason to keep a close eye on places where there is a lot of litter. Oddlaug Ellen Knutsen in the Statsforvaltaren i Nordland points out that they have not been informed by NIVA that the marine protection of the current is too bad Photo: Wigdis Korsvik / The Statsforvaltaren i Nordland – But because of its strong current, the Saltstraumen is one of the last the places where this will be a problem, says the county environmental protection manager. She believes the protection is in line with political guidelines: Political guidelines for marine protection Political guidelines have been given for what a marine protection should be. Among other things, there is guidance that all activity that takes place in the protected area at the time of protection must be able to continue even after the protection decision, but that there must be a ban on new measures that could harm conservation values. This means that the marine protected areas are mainly a protection against major new irreversible interventions, such as filling in, construction of facilities on the seabed, dredging, dumping, pollution, tidal power plants, wind farms, oil drilling and underwater mining. – In light of these guidelines, the protection works as it should, says Knutsen. Need more knowledge Caroline Durif is a researcher at the Institute of Marine Research. She says that roe crackers and roe call are a mysterious fish for the researchers. – We know very little about wild roe bream, reproduction and spawning strategy, she says. Caroline Durif, researcher at the Institute of Marine Research says that there are many roe biscuits in the Barents Sea, but that they know less about what the stock looks like in the Norwegian Sea. Photo: Stian Sørum Røkenes / Stian Sørum Røkenes The reason is that the fish is not popular to eat. Therefore, it is not easy to get money to research the fish either. But the researchers know something. The fish eats both plankton and jellyfish, and is therefore very important to avoid jellyfish blooms. Rog crackers are fished for roe, but the market is about saturated with Icelandic fish, says Durif. – It is a limited market, so there is a little less interest in Norway. Photo: Vebjørn Karlsen / private Rognkjeksen only gets around five years old. The researchers are unsure how many times the fish spawn during their short life, but it seems that some of them only spawn once. It can be an advantage for the fish. Since he does not live very long, and reproduces often, he changes quickly according to his surroundings. Caroline Durif from the Institute of Marine Research says that the researchers currently do not think roe crackers or roe calls are threatened. Photo: Vebjorn Karlsen / private – I also work with eels, they can live up to 25 years. It takes a long time for eels to come back, but with roe biscuits things change quickly. Eggs became fry, against all odds At first, the egg that the roe man looked after for the seven roe biscuits was only partially covered by the grey-brown algae. After a few weeks it was much worse. This is what the egg that the roe cracker guards every year looks like. But this year the egg was covered with a thick layer of fur. – The egg became more and more overgrown. We were excited to see if he would get them out in full, says Dykkar Viem. But one day when the divers dived down to see how the roe was doing, he was gone. But the egg was there. And they were about to hatch. When the roe chick hatches, it may be a molt, but at least they are no longer covered in molt. Photo: Vebjørn Karlsen / private Then Viem discovered a whole lot of small fluff around them. They were surrounded by tiny roe biscuits. – He had a great job, since the eggs became more and more degenerate. But he made it. The egg hatched. Viem continued to dive down to see what was going on with the roe deer chick. – This summer we have seen quite a few roe cracker chicks in the kelp forest. They are here, it is clear.
ttn-69
Lurv algae in Saltstraumen – researcher believes the marine conservation area is being taken care of too poorly – news Nordland
