Riga Port, Ventspils Harbour, Liepaja Port

Zooplankton and zoobenthos morphological parameters; Zooplankton taxonomy-related abundance per unit volume of the water column; Zooplankton feeding

Plankton nets

The main objective of the project is assessing the risk of alien aquatic organisms in the high-risk areas for biological invasion in the north-eastern part of the Baltic Sea. During project the analysis of ships' routes and traffic and estimation of the volume of ballast waters exchanged will be performed at the Port of Liepaja, Port of Riga, Ventspils Harbour. Biological sampling of the port areas will provide baseline information about invasive species diversity, distribution and abundance in the high-risk areas. The project will prepare and publish an informative booklet and give several press releases for mass media in Latvia. Both national and Baltic Sea Alien Species Data Base will be updated with the information collected. The obtained data material and conclusions will provide a base for decision-maker organizations when planning the strategy and activities for implementation of management actions towards ballast water use and conservation and protection of local valuable ecosystems. The samples were taken in three to five stations in Riga Port, Liepaja Port and Ventspils Harbour once a month. Samples were taken, fixed and stored according to HELCOM recommendation. Dataset have supporting information about hydrology and hydrochemistry of site.

Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology
Voleru str.4
Riga

LV-1007
Latvia