Welsh university leads major research voyage on state-of-the-art vessel

A state-of-the-art research vessel undertaking a scientific voyage led by a Welsh university has set off from Liverpool docks.

The project led by Professor Jan Geert Hiddink from Bangor University, is part  of a £2.1M project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.

The team of 18 scientists will spend three and a half weeks on board the RSS Discovery, one of the world’s most advanced research vessels, studying the effect of bottom trawling on seabed carbon storage in the Irish sea.

Prior to setting off, a group of local dignitaries came aboard for a tour of the vessel, including the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, and Operations Director of the National Oceanography Centre, Natalie Campbell.

Professor Jan Geert Hiddink from Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences said: “Bottom-trawl fishing provides a quarter of global seafood but is also the most extensive physical disturbance caused by human actions to stocks of carbon locked in sediment on the seabed.

“This is significant because recent evidence suggests that seabed disturbance could result in significant greenhouse gas release from the seabed and to the atmosphere.

“There are major uncertainties in our understanding of the effect of this disturbance on seabed stores of carbon. Consequently, the impact of seabed disturbances on carbon stores are largely unquantified and currently unregulated.

“The aim of this project is to get a much clearer understanding of what’s going on in order to inform what action might need to be taken by scientists, policy makers and regulators in the future.”

Seven research organisations are collaborating in this project. They are Bangor University, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), Herriot-Watt University, University of Leeds, PML, University of St Andrews, and Imperial College London.