This report is the result of a collaboration between researchers from eight different research institution in Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Norway, all working with the application of environmental DNA (eDNA) in marine research and monitoring.
Fiskaaling, Aquaculture Research Station of the Faroes, took the initiative to propose this project because we are including eDNA analysis in our coastal research and monitoring and felt our work could benefit from establishing a consensus with researchers in other Northeast Atlantic countries on fundamental issues related to the standardization and implementation of eDNA methods.
The implementation of eDNA methods in marine monitoring has also proved challenging, in part due to researchers and stakeholders lacking a common understanding about how eDNA can be used and and needing better insight into the various challenges and ambitions of both parties.
Researchers in Greenland, Iceland, Norway and other institutions in the Faroe Islands shared these challenges and all contributed to the project by discussing main issues to address, constructing surveys and providing input for both surveys and a summary workshop. Therefore, the project plan and outcome relied on the knowledge and experience of all project participants.
The aim of the UNIFIeD (Unifying Nordic Initiatives and Fostering Involvement on eDNA) project was to assess the status of implementation of eDNA based methods in marine research and monitoring in the Northeast Atlantic. This included: identifying main challenges and ambitions on this issue for the various countries, providing a basis for enhanced communication between researchers and stakeholders, as well as increasing the possibility of collaboration between researchers across the Nordic region with a better understanding of each countries strenghts, challenges and ambitions. We estimate this knowledge to be a prerequisite for standarization and implementation of eDNA methods in an internationally coordinated scheme.
The report describes results from surveys investigating the current status of the implementation of eDNA methods to marine monitoring. Respondents included stakeholders from Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Norway as well as researchers in the field from most Nordic Countries. In addition, the discussions and consensus from the following workshop is presented.