SUMMER H2020

SUMMER will establish a protocol to accurately estimate mesopelagic fish biomass, quantify the ecosystem services provided by the mesopelagic community (food for aquaculture, for humans, for other wild fish, climate regulation and potential for bioactive compounds) and develop a decision support tool to quantitatively balance the trade-offs between the different services for any given exploitation scenario.

SUMMER's ambition is to obtain the information vital for a sustainable use of ocean resources through a comprehensive understanding of ocean functioning across its full depth. Up to now the ocean has been studied in layers, with a bias towards the surface one where photosynthesis takes place and viewing the flux of material as simply downward. However, the unexpectedly large new estimates of mesopelagic biomass clearly indicate that we need to consider the whole ecosystem vertically integrated from surface to seafloor because these abundant organisms frequently traverse the full water column.

Partners

1. (Coordinator) Fundación AZTI-AZTI Fundazioa (AZTI), ES
2. Universitaet Bremen (UBREMEN), DE
3. The University Court of the University of St. Andrews (USTAN), UK
4. IMAR- Instituto Do Mar (IMAR), PT
5. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), UK
6. Helmholtz Zentrum Fur Ozeanforschung Kiel (GEOMAR), DE
7. Universitetet i Oslo (UiO), NO
8. Universitetet i Bergen (UiB), NO
9. Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (ICM), ES
10. Université de la Rochelle (ULR), FR
11. Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (Ifremer), FR
12. University of Strathclyde (USTRATH), UK
13. Universidad de las palmas de Gran Canaria (UPLGC), ES
14. Institut de Recherche por le Development (IRD), FR
15. Danmarks Teknise Universitet (DTU), DK
16. Institute of Marine Research (IMR), NO
17. Sintef Ocean AS (SINTEF), NO
18. Middle East Technical University (METU), TR
19. Acondicionamiento Tarrasense Asociacion (LEITAT), ES
20. Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (MFRI), IS
21. Barna S.A. (BARNA), ES
22. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), SA

Other contacts:

Leif Grimsmo

Senior Project Manager

Guro Møen Tveit

Senior Research Scientist