Effects of muddy water

The ETHOFISH project is studying the effects of muddy water (turbidity) and reduced oxygen availability.

The size and scope of anthropogenic disturbances in coastal marine ecosystems in Europe has greatly increased in recent years. The EU’s ETHOFISH project is looking at the effects of muddy water and oxygen insufficiency on three critical components of the interactions between a fish species and its environment: habitat selection, predator-prey interactions and schooling. Justin Meager and Anne C. Palm of the Department of Biology at the University of Bergen are responsible for the international project.

Laboratory studies have made it clear that turbidity and availability of oxygen are two powerful influences on fish behaviour, which means that they are important ecological variable in determining fish distribution patterns.

The effects of changes in oxygenation or turbidity conditions on coastal fish stocks have been little studied, in spite of the important role played by coastal waters on stocks of a number of important species of fish. Among other things, ETHOFISH will perform experiments to identify threshold values of oxygen and turbidity which, if they are breached, will result in changes in the physiology or behaviour of fish.

One of the aims of the project is to develop conceptual and situation-specific models capable of dealing with environmental problems; another is to support the development of the EU’s environmental policies and regulations.

www.ifremer.fr/ethofish

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