News & announcements

In response to the pressing challenges posed by human activities and climate change on marine ecosystems, BioProtect, a newly-funded EU project, has been officially launched. Coordinated by MATIS in Iceland, in cooperation with Marine and Freshwater Research Institure, the 8 million EUR bring together 18 partners from 8 countries.

A graduation ceremony for GRÓ Fisheries Training Programme’s 25th cohort of fellows will be held Wednesday 15 May. The ceremony will take place at the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute, Fornubúðum 5 Hafnarfirði and starts at 15:10. Concurrently, a poster exhibition of the final projects of the graduating fellows will be on display at the same location.

A new study, published in Cell Reports Sustainability, shows the persistence of long-standing biases in research to conserve biodiversity. These biases remain and will ultimately lead to uneven loss of biodiversity as understudied groups decline and disappear - some species before they are even identified and described.

For the first time, an individual humpback that was photographed in the Cape Verde Islands breeding ground off the coast of Africa has been photographed in the west Greenland feeding ground.

New Measurements Shed Light on a Familiar Shipwreck: About 80 nautical miles west of Snæfellsnes, at a depth of approximately 400 meters beneath the ocean's surface, rests a shipwreck. Its hull spans 155 meters in length and 20 meters in width, with what appears to be the bow rising 13 meters from the seabed, facing west. This intriguing discovery lies adjacent to the far edge of an iceberg ploughmark, stretching 330 meters in length and 12 meters deep.

The thirteenth multibeam survey of the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute’s to map the seabed around Iceland in ongoing. Seabed Mapping project began 9 April, departing from the Westman islands en route to the west of the Reykjanes Ridge, the survey covered Reykjanesgrunn, Faxabanki, and Jökuldjúp. Despite challenging conditions, including strong north-northwest winds, the team managed to obtain satisfactory depth measurements of the seabed, covering an area of approximately 5996 km2 by the time of this report.

Theresa Henke, a PhD student, will introduce the main findings of her research on the “Establishment of European flounder (Platichthys flesus) in Icelandic waters”.

Today, 22 March is the World Water Day. There is good reason for everyone who lives in Iceland to celebrate this day and our precious water. Apart from the fish in the sea, there is no natural resource more important to us than the water. It is obviously the foundation for fishing in rivers and lakes, but also for energy-intensive industry in Iceland as electricity production relies on hydro and geothermal energy.

There has been a lot of activity onboard the trawler Breki VE 61 during the MFRI´s annual groundfish survey. Four ships involved in the project: the trawlers Breki VE and Gullver NS, and MFRI´s research vessels Árni Friðriksson and Bjarni Sæmundsson. Here you can see some pictures of the Breki crew in action.

The two seal species that usually can be seen on Icelandic shores are the Harbour Seal an the Grey Seal. The two seals on picture to the left are Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina) and the one to the right is the Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus).