The cod is gone. The mussels disappear. Where there were seaweed and kelp forests, there are now slippery mountains. Life in the Oslo Fjord is about to collapse. But now two researchers at NMBU may have the key to the solution to the problem.
– It is not without reason that some of us eat vitamin tablets and have a proper diet. This also applies to fish and vegetation in the sea, says professor of fish ecology, Thrond O. Haugen.
Vitamin deficiency
He and colleague Knut Rudi, professor of microbiology at NMBU, have in recent weeks developed a hypothesis about what may be the key to understanding why life in the Oslo Fjord is struggling. They have looked at fish they have found that they probably suffer from vitamin deficiency.
– VITAMIN DEFICIENCY: Professors Knut Rudi and Thrond O. Haugen at NMBU. Photo: Martin Leigland / TV 2
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– Most of the life in the sea is microorganisms. If these are fed a lot of nutrients, it is typical that fast-growing bacteria develop that do not produce the important vitamins, says Knut Rudi.
The theory is that the fjord water, through inflow from land, gets a type of nutrition that favors bacteria that displace the bacteria that produce the vitamin on which animals and vegetation in the sea depend.
It is built at record speed around the Oslo Fjord. This affects the vegetation that acts as a filter for the water that flows down to the sea. Vegetation along rivers and streams has also been removed in favor of agriculture, which will cultivate as much land as possible. Then fertilizer and nutrients seep into the rivers on the way to the fjord.
Suffocated
At the same time, we have a pipe and cleaning system that is not dimensioned for torrential rain that has been seen, especially in the Oslo area, in recent years. The water carries the particles over, and around, the purification systems and ends up in the ocean.
– What happens then is that you get to add a lot of organic material that settles to the bottom and rots, and then life is suffocated by bacteria and decomposing organisms. Bacteria that in turn do not produce the vitamins we want should be in the food chains in the ocean, Thrond Haugen explains.
Western Norway rainforest in conditions
It is on the cool seabed that the slow-growing bacteria have produced the important vitamin B 12. Now these bacteria seem to give way to a stronger but less useful big brother.
– The theory is that when the nutrient-rich sludge settles to the bottom, fast-growing bacteria will take over and outcompete the slow-growing bacteria that produce these vitamins, says Professor Knut Rudi, who is a diver and has studied the bottom of the fjord for many years.
– There is little life in the Oslo Fjord. Had I dived in Western Norway, it would have been like being in a rainforest compared to what we see here in the fjord.
Vegetation such as kelp and kelp are important producers of oxygen in the sea. When this vegetation disappears, lethal nitrogen from sewage discharges will take over. In parts of the Oslo Fjord, the values of nitrogen are far, far above what is critical.
Documentation
The theory is relatively new. Minister of the Environment Espen Barth Eide (Labor Party) says he does not know about this theory, but is very involved in what is happening with the fjord that two million people in this part of the country will benefit from.
– NITROGEN: Green and blue areas have enough oxygen. Map: Norwegian Environment Agency
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– This is extremely serious. We really need to get together. The government must take this very seriously, which is why we work closely with the Minister of the Sea and agricultural organizations on this issue, says Espen Barth Eide.
There is documentation from other countries that vitamin deficiency is an explanation for the fact that life in marine areas is dying out. They have had the same problem in the Baltic Sea and in bays outside major cities in the United States.
Bankruptcy declaration
– EXTREMELY SERIOUS: Minister of Climate and Environment Espen Barth Eide, Labor. Photo: Ingvild Gjerdsjø / TV 2
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– I did not think so the first time I read about it. It could not be so stupid .. What they did was take the fish that they then tore in the water, added a few drops of vitamins, and then vips it was back and lived. This trail has not been followed in Norway yet. That is a hypothesis. It may be that we are wrong, but there are examples from the Baltic Sea and the USA that this is actually happening, says professor of ecology, Thrond O. Haugen.
– If a rich country like Norway were not to achieve this, then it would be a declaration of bankruptcy, he believes.
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