DAM Pilot Mission "MGF-Nordsee"
There are three areas in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the North Sea that have been designated as Natura 2000 protected areas. The Natura 2000 program is an interconnected network of protected areas within the European Union. Together with the Birds Directive, the so-called Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive regulates the protection of endangered wild plants and animals in their natural habitats in the Natura 2000 areas.
Since September 2017, the marine Natura 2000 areas of the EEZ have been protected nationally as nature conservation areas by six protected area ordinances. Marine nature conservation areas are reported internationally as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). In total, the North Sea MPAs “Doggerbank”, “Borkum Reef Grond” and “Sylter Outer Reef – Eastern German Bight” cover an area of 7,920 km² and thus approx. 28 percent of the North Sea's EEZ.
Incubation of sediment cores (Photo: Andreas Neumann / Hereon)
In the Department of Aquatic Nutrient Cycles, we are within workpackage “3.2 Benthic fluxes”. Mobile bottom-contact fishing causes sediment resuspension, changing sediment structure and destroying communities of macrobenthos in and on the sediment, ultimately contributing to the poor ecological status of parts of the seabed in the North Sea. In a first phase, the current biogeochemical state of the marine protected areas "Sylter Outer Reef", "Borkum Reef Ground" and "Doggerbank" of the German Exclusive Economic Zone was captured.
To evaluate an exclusion of mobile bottom-contact fishing in these marine protected areas, sediment characteristics were determined and specific benthic respiration- and remineralization rates were measured with flow through reactors, at stations with and without fishing pressure. The gained results towards sediment characteristics and respiration- and remineralization were then used, to model benthic fluxes of nutrients and oxygen. Furthermore, the effects of a fishing exclusion on the prevailing benthic communities are going to be investigated.
The aim of WP 3.2 is to quantify current turnover rates, in order to evaluate the impact of a fishing exclusion. We expect benthic communities to recover without disturbance, so that a regeneration of the ecological structure and function may take place. Furthermore, we expect the sediments to better restrain suspended matter.
Learn more: DAM Pilot Mission "MGF-North Sea"
