Arctic cod are clearly highly susceptible to oil pollution, according to Otto Gregussen of the Norwegian Fishermen’s Association, commenting on research carried out by the University of Tromsø.
Otto Gregussen, secretary general of the Norwegian Fishermen’s Association (Norges Fiskarlag) has commented that he os concerned about the results of research by the University of Tromsø showing how vulnerable cod are to oil pollution, as laid out in Environmental Pollution.
According to professor Jørgen Berge, research indicates that the cod population could be at risk of significant damage even at relatively low concentrations of oil, and this also applies to areas covered with ice. The research worked on a volume of pollution equivalent to one gramme of oil per million litres of water, but researchers say there is still much work to be done.
According to Otto Gregussen, Norwegian fishermen are dubious about the oil industry’s potential expansion further north.
‘The reason why we are opposed to further development is that we believe this represents an unacceptable risk – not for individual stocks, but for the entire ecosystem in the various species that exist in the north,’ he said, commenting that the Association does not want to go into whether individual findings or observations would indicate that there should be new demands placed on the oil industry.
‘It is our view that the risk to these ecosystems as a whole is too high for further development, and that the risk increases the further north one goes,’ he said.
A study carried out by the Marine Research Institute with SINTEF and NOAA has identified that haddock are also highly vulnerable to exposure to oil pollution.
