Careful with zooplankton!

Redfeed, a type of zooplankton, represents the largest single resource in Norwegian waters. These tiny animals are a considerable part of the diet of Norway’s most valuable fish species, and many hope that the capture and use of redfeed will save the country’s fisheries and aquaculture industry.

Norway is a leader in research on redfeed, but until now there have been restrictions on the commercial capture of the species. Many would like to see these restrictions lifted – both in Norway and elsewhere.

Now a group researchers in the humanities, social sciences and biology at NTNU warn in an interdisciplinary collection of articles called “Redfeed – rescue or ruin?” that the international deregulation of redfeed in northern waters could quickly lead to a state of anarchy, which in turn could cause international problems in the Svalbard zone. The researchers underlined the need for strong, prefer-ably international, management and control agreements if the commercial capture of redfeed is allowed.