The formerly ice-covered northern parts of the Barents Sea become increasingly accessible to human activities such as fishing, shipping, tourism and petroleum exploration. The multiple pressures of climate change, ocean acidification, pollution and fisheries will jointly and non-additively influence the ecosystem of the northern Barents Sea and the adjacent slope to the Arctic Basin.

The ‘Human impacts’ work package takes a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the impact of human activities on the Barents Sea ecosystem in the past, present and future. The approach includes field observations, experimental work including combined effects, existing models and new innovative model development within and across the main impacts of ocean acidification, contaminants and the effect of fisheries. The work package will provide knowledge for precautionary management of expanding human activities in the northern Barents Sea and adjacent Arctic Ocean.

The work package addresses the following

1. Ocean acidification – Determine the current and past magnitude, variability and drivers of ocean acidification and its effect on bio-availability of essential nutrients and metals. Assess the consequences of ocean acidification for key ecosystem species and indicator species of ocean acidification effects.
2. Pollution – Determine the sensitive physical and biological drivers of food web biomagnification, and effects of contaminants in target species of the marine food web of the northern Barents Sea.
3. Harvesting – Incorporate new knowledge about climate-driven ecological and genetic changes in fish communities, e.g. from observations during winter/spring in ice-covered areas, into population, multi-species, and ecosystem models that quantify the combined effects of climate and harvesting.