ASBD

In order to validate the results of the spatial predictive habitat model two fieldwork trips were completed, one in April 2008 and a second trip from June 28 to July 4 2008. The second trip was carried out in the Hammerfest area, outside of Sørøya, on the northern end of Seiland and the southern part of Rolvsøy by Hartvig Christie, NIVA and Nina Mari Jørgensen, Akvaplan-niva onboard the rented vessel “Arcticus”.

The coastline in these areas contains a variety of habitats, ranging from extremely exposed rocky shores, through cobble beaches to protected sandy coves. These areas are sparsely populated, with few and scattered houses and who occupants rely on mostly traditional subsistence, such as fishery.

We arrived in Hammerfest and, although is almost 70° north, the weather was fantastic and the region showed itself from its best side.

Sampling was carried out using a drop camera with a direct feed to a shipboard monitor. We looked for abundance of kelp, type of substratum, abundance of sea urchins and other habitat features.

Under the surface we could see the fantastic rainforest of the sea, the kelp forest. Or, in some places, what remained of it after the grazing of the sea urchins.

We set out to see if the model predictions corresponded to the ‘real-world’ situation, and the data collected during our field work will contribute to the validation of the model. The final predictive model will be presented in 2010.