BRIDGE provides high quality interdisciplinary research and education in areas that address societal challenges in the marine realm.
We have a shared interest in ocean governance: ecosystem structure and function, management of living marine resources and sustainable seafood production. We develop and lead transversal courses and workshops for students, researchers and professionals at faculty, university and international level.
BRIDGE has extensive internal cooperation with other research groups at the faculty and at UiT. We work on international research projects typically funded by the EU. BRIDGE members are active in ICES working groups and other international networks.
Arctic marine ecology.
Marine biodiversity.
Climate change impacts.
Climate change adaptation strategies.
Aquaculture.
eDNA.
https://www.permagov.eu/
https://b-useful.eu/
https://oceanspact.eu/
https://aquavitaeproject.eu/
Research in fish populations, fish communities, and marine food web. I am studying the impacts of global change on marine ecosystems, from fish populations to the food web by combining empirical analysis of scientific surveys, trait and environmental datasets, and modeling tools.
Resource economics, environmental economics, socio-economic impacts of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture, bio-economic modelling, dynamic modelling, risk assessments, ecosystem services and non market valuations.
Michaela Aschan is Professor in Fisheries Biology and Management at UiT, the Arctic University of Norway, and has a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Helsinki, including additional training in statistics, geography and philosophy. She has served as the Vice Dan with responsibility for science activities at the Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics. This involves science strategic planning at the UiT level, overall responsibility for the PhD-education programme at the Faculty as a central role in the Faculty lead. This experience has given her leadership opportunities and training as well as the opportunity to assemble multidisciplinary teams for solving new scientific challenges. Her research covers a wide range of scientific areas including stock assessment and population biology of shellfish; fish and benthic communities; sampling design; bio-economic aspects of fisheries regulation and management; and climate induced changes in the marine ecosystem. She has wide experience from national projects, EU projects, other international projects as well as ICES Working Group leadership and participation and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification.
Ongoing projects:
ClimeFish Coordinator => https://climefish.eu/
FarFish WP leader =>https://www.farfish.eu/
BSEco and BarentsRisk Norwegian Research Council
News: https://www.euronews.com/2019/04/29/fish-are-growing-faster-with-the-changing-climate
Congratulations to the doctoral candidates finishing their degrees as part of the BRIDGE research group!
Towards a framework to guide and facilitate interdisciplinary social-ecological system research in practice
Congratulations to the master students who finished their degrees under the supervision of members of the BRIDGE research group!
2019
Nicolas Kotowych - Rising temperatures in a subarctic lake lead to increased somatic growth rates for Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus, (L.))
Viktoriia Kuz - Labour in fisheries: Task analysis of fishing operations on a Norwegian trawler
2018
Nadine Jacques - Modelling the bycatch reduction of a shrimp trawl with a combined Nordmøre grid and sieve panel configuration in the north east Atlantic deep-water shrimp (Pandalus borealis) fishery
Lovasoa Cédrique Augustave - The European Union's Fisheries Agreements with third countries. Moving from FPA to SFPA: the case study of Seychelles
Cody Schrader - Bigeye and Yellowfin tuna Fishery and Management Description (Pacific Ocean): Emphasizing discard mortality and management strategy evaluation.
2017
George Dosu - Perceptions of socio-cultural beliefs and taboos among the Ghanaian fishers and fisheries authorities. A case study of the Jamestown fishing community in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana
Helene M. Gjesteland - Beskrivelse av skadeomfanget på snøkrabbe (Chionoecetes opilio) ved interaksjon med bunntrål i Barentshavet
Gareth Jordan - Shark catches and discard practices in the pelagic longline fisheries in South Africa. In colaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
Md Moniruzzaman Khan- Suggested ways for improving the management of the Bay of Bengal shrimp trawl fisheries: A literature study on challenges and bycatch mitigation in shrimp trawl fisheries around the world and examples on how it is implemented in the management regimes in various nations
Tomas Araya Schmidt - Developing a profitable, sustainable, and efficient snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) fishery in the Barents Sea. In colaboration with the Marine Institute, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
Kevin Ochoa Zubiri - Diving behavior of humpack whales feeding on overwintering herring in North Norwegian fjords
2016
Boris Tuktarov - Drivers for compliance with fisheries rules. A systematic literature review
Petter Starbatty - Gear selectivity and bycatch reduction in the Norwegian Red King Crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) fishery. A study on size-selective performances of different escape openings
2015
Jesse M. Brinkhof - A study on the escape rate of Northeast Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) under the fishing line with two different ground ropes in the Barents Sea bottom trawl fishery and the influence of some biotic and abiotic factors on the efficiency during bottom trawling
Allison Luttel - Snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) interactions with bottom trawls and possible conflicts between trawl fleets and pot fisheries in the Northeast Barents Sea
Torgeir Norheim - Roundhauler – The potential for efficient new fishing gear for the Norwegian coastal fleet
Anna Pyzhova - Cultural characteristics of the Russian-Norwegian business relationship in the seafood industry
2014
Damilare Ibukun Ogundiwin - Survey of artisanal fishing gear and craft. A case study of Kainji Lake lower basin, Nigeria
Leonore Olsen - Baited pots as an alternative fishing gear in the Norwegian fishery for Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
Fredrik Olsen - Line som fangstmetode og en studie av effekten av krok med svivel
Ixai Salvo - Approach to the 2014 discard ban in the EU Common Fisheries Policy and trials with bycatch reducing trawl techniques
Nicholas Turyaheebwa - Perception on fishery trends in Lake Victoria
Charlotte Weber - Shape matters: Ecomorphology relates to the functional roles of Barents Sea fish
2013
Ermis Angelogiannos - Description of the demersal trawl fishery in Greece, with a focus on codend selectivity and current regulations
Xoel Chamorro Garcia - Results based management as applied to fisheries in the reform of the European common fishery policy
Jon Ruiz - Pilot study of an electronic monitoring system on a tropical tuna purse seine vessel in the Atlantic Ocean
Aleksandra Shrestneva - Snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in the Barents Sea. Possibility of harvesting a new species by the Russian Fleet
Ricardo Torres Coll - Research and management of competing small-scale and industrial fisheries: a modeling study of the shrimp fisheries in Mozambique
Selection of recent publications (current or previous Bridge member bold)
Tett, P., Charalambides, G., Franco. S., Hughes A., Mikkelsen, E. Nielsen, K.N., Routledge, E. Nielsen, P., James, P. 2024. Leaving the niche: Recommendations for mainstreaming Low Trophic Aquaculture in countries around the Atlantic basin. Marine Policy Volume 171, January 2025, 106475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2024.106475
Nielsen, K.N., Linke. S. and Holm, P. 2024. Navigating dilemmas with formalization of advisory processes: Views of practitioners in the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Environmental Science & Policy
Volume 160, October 2024, 103833. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103833
Knol-Kauffman, M., Nielsen, KN, Sander, G., Arbo, P. Sustainability conflicts in the blue economy: planning for offshore aquaculture and offshore wind energy development in Norway. Maritime Studies 2023; Volum 22 (4). ISSN 1872-7859.s doi: 10.1007/s40152-023-00335-z.
Linke, S. Nielsen, K. and Ramirez-Monsalve, P. 2023: “Roles for advisory science in the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)”. Marine Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2022.105469
Clay, Patricia M; Ferretti, J.; Bailey, JL.; Goti, L.; Dankel, DJ; Santurtun, M.; Fuller, JL; Linke, S.; Schmidt, J.; Nielsen, KN; Goldsborough, D.; Groeneveld, R.; Fraga, AR; Elegbede, I.; Röckmann, C. Implementation of integrated ecosystem assessments in the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea - Conceptualizations, practice, and progress. ICES Journal of Marine Science 2023; Volum 80 (5). ISSN 1054-3139.s 1516 - 1528.s doi: 10.1093/icesjms/fsad079.
Pecuchet, L., Jørgensen, L. L., Dolgov, A. V., Eriksen, E., Husson, B., Skern‐Mauritzen, M., & Primicerio, R. (2022). Spatio‐temporal turnover and drivers of bentho‐demersal community and food web structure in a high‐latitude marine ecosystem. Diversity and Distributions.
Emblemsvåg, M., Pecuchet, L., Velle, L. G., Nogueira, A., & Primicerio, R. (2022). Recent warming causes functional borealization and diversity loss in deep fish communities east of Greenland. Diversity and Distributions.
Morley, S. A., Souster, T. A., Vause, B. J., Gerrish, L., Peck, L. S., & Barnes, D. K. (2022). Benthic biodiversity, carbon storage and the potential for increasing negative feedbacks on climate change in shallow waters of the Antarctic Peninsula. Biology, 11(2), 320.
Husson, B., Lind, S., Fossheim, M., Kato‐Solvang, H., Skern‐Mauritzen, M., Pecuchet, L., ... & Primicerio, R. (2022). Successive extreme climatic events lead to immediate, large‐scale, and diverse responses from fish in the Arctic. Global Change Biology.
Krause G, Le Vay L, Buck BH, Costa-Pierce BA, Dewhurst T, Heasman KG, Nevejan N, Nielsen P, Nielsen KN, Park K, Schupp MF, Thomas J-B, Troell M, Webb J, Wrange AL, Ziegler F and Strand Å (2022) Prospects of Low Trophic Marine Aquaculture Contributing to Food Security in a Net Zero-Carbon World. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 6:875509. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.875509
Aniceto, A. S., Ferguson, E. L., Pedersen, G., Tarroux, A., & Primicerio, R. (2022). Temporal patterns in the soundscape of a Norwegian gateway to the Arctic. Scientific reports, 12(1), 1-15.
Jørgensen, L. L., Pecuchet, L., Ingvaldsen, R. B., & Primicerio, R. (2022). Benthic transition zones in the Atlantic gateway to a changing Arctic ocean. Progress in Oceanography, 204, 102792.
Frainer, A., Primicerio, R., Dolgov, A., Fossheim, M., Johannesen, E., Lind, S., & Aschan, M. (2021). Increased functional diversity warns of ecological transition in the Arctic. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 288(1948), 20210054.
Pham, T. T. T., Friðriksdóttir, R., Weber, C. T., Viðarsson, J. R., Papandroulakis, N., Baudron, A. R., ... & Aschan, M. (2021). Guidelines for co-creating climate adaptation plans for fisheries and aquaculture. Climatic Change, 164(3), 1-20.
Ramírez-Monsalve, P., K. N. Nielsen, M. Ballesteros, T. S. Kirkfeldt, M. Dickey-Collas, A. Delaney, T. J. Hegland, J. Raakjær, and P. Degnbol. "Pulling Mechanisms and Pushing Strategies: How to Improve Ecosystem Approach Fisheries Management Advice within the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy." Fisheries Research 233 (2021): 105751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2020.105751
Pecuchet, L., Blanchet, M. A., Frainer, A., Husson, B., Jørgensen, L. L., Kortsch, S., & Primicerio, R. (2020). Novel feeding interactions amplify the impact of species redistribution on an Arctic food web. Global Change Biology, 26(9), 4894-4906.
Pham, T. T. T. (2020). Tourism in marine protected areas: Can it be considered as an alternative livelihood for local communities?. Marine Policy, 115, 103891.
Bachelor’s level
FSK-2009 Sjømatproduksjon (Petter Olsen)
FSK-2020 Bærekraftig fiskeri (Michaela Aschan, Kåre N. Nielsen, Laurene Pecuchet)
FSK-2050 BSc thesis supervision
Master’s level
Semester 1: SVF-3401 Introduction to Ocean Leadership for Sustainability (Kåre Nielsen, Michaela Aschan)
Semester 2: SVF-3402 Critical Global Challenges (Laurene Pecuchet, Kåre Nielsen, Michaela Aschan)
Semester 3: SVF- 3403 Blue Innovation for the Green Shift (Kåre Nielsen, Michaela Aschan)
Semester 4: SVF- 3404 Ocean Futures (Kåre Nielsen, Michaela Aschan)
SVF-3555 Marine planning (Joshua Boampong)
BIO-3607 Matvaretrygghet (Petter Olsen)
FSK-3006 Model theory and data processing methods (Michaela Aschan, Thuy Pham)
BIO-3516 Foodwebs and fisheries (Michaela Aschan, Laurene Pecuchet)
PhD level
FSK-8005 Funding your research (Michaela Aschan, Petter Olsen, Hanne Risan Johnsen)
SVF-8600 Philosophy and ethics of science (Michaela Aschan, Kåre N. Nielsen, Raul Primicerio)
Others
R course for beginners, open to all UiT faculties, (Sofia Aniceto, Laurene Pecuchet)
Contact us:
Muninbakken 21, 9019 Tromsø
bridge@list.uit.no
