Appendices

Appendix 1. Stakeholder survey questions

Q1. In which country is your place of employment? Greenland, Iceland, The Faroe Islands, Norway

Q2. What is your place of work? Environmental Agency, Ministry, Advisory body, Research Council, Research Institution, Other (please specify)

Q3. What best describes your job function? Management, Advisory role, Drafting policies, Coordinator, Civil servant

Q4. What is your level of engagement in these areas of marine issues? Not on the agenda, Area of interest, Focus area

Biodiversity / Climate change
Marine reseource management
Impact assessment

Q5. What is your level of awareness of environmental DNA (eDNA) and your approach to it’s implementation in marine monitoring? 1–5

No knowledge | In-depth knowledge
Do not recommend | Actively encourage implementation

Q6. Overall, at what stage is implementation of eDNA methods in these fields in your country? Implementation, Being tested, Planned for trial, Not on the agenda, I don’t know

Biodiversity / Climate change
Marine reseource management
Impact assessment

Q7. What are the main challenges for implementation of eDNA methods in marine monitoring? Not a problem, Problematic, Very challenging, I don’t know

Lack of insight in the Administration
Low priority in the Administration
Lack of information from the scientific community
Lack of validation of the method
Lack of monitoring programs to adhere to
Budget restrictions

Q8. Do you agree with these statements about the benefits of implementation of eDNA? Agree, Disagree, I don’t know

It can address issues in marine monitoring of international focus
It can easily increase spatial and temporal sampling
It can provide more effective monitoring
It can more easily detect rare or invasive species
It is a relatively non-invasive method

Q9. Do you think eDNA methods need to demonstrate directly comparable results with more traditional methods before implementation? Yes, No, Depends on the application, I don’t know

Q10. Please rank the following contructive measures according to what you think is most needed/wanted Highest priority, Second priority, Third priority, Not a priority, I don’t know

Validation of eDNA methods
Investigate short and long-term investment for cost-efficient eDNA monitoring
Improve awareness within the Administration
Demonstrate the need for eDNA methods

Appendix 2. Researcher survey questions

Q1. What type of job position do you have? Researcher, Technician (lab, field,..), Manager/coordinator (lab, ship, base,..)

Q2. In which country or countries is your place of employment and where do you work/perform your sampling? Place of employment, Place of sampling/working

Greenland
Iceland
The Faroe Islands
Norway
Denmark
UK
Germany
Sweden
Finland

Q3. What kind of function does your workplace have? Research Institute, Environmental Agency, Private service company, Private R&D, Industry, University, Other (please specify)

Q4. What is the aim of your marine research or what is your work most relevant for? Biodiversity / climate change, Marine resource management, Impact assessment

Skip logic from Q4 “Biodiversity / climate change”

Q5. What is your focus? Climate change, Invasive species, Endangered species, Biodiversity baselines / comparisons. Other (please specify)

Q6. What environment or habitat are you focusing on? Coastal water, Open ocean, Seabed, Kelp forests, Other (please specify)

Q7. Which larger taxonomic group are you working with? Bacteria, Phytoplankton, Zooplankton, Invertebrates, Fish, Marine mammals, Other (please specify)

Q8. What approach do you use? Targeted – presence/absence, Targeted – abundance estimate, Targeted – population genetics, Metabarcoding – community pattern and processes, Other (please specify)

Q9. What type of studies are you working on? Within the Institute, National collaboration, International collaboration

Pilot studies
Technical development
Research projects
Implementation process
Established Biomonitoring program

Skip logic from Q9 “Established Biomonitoring program”

Q10. Optional. Please provide reference(s) for the biomonitoring program(s) you work with

Skip logic from Q4 “Marine resource management”

Q11. Which marine resources/organisms are you working with? Pelagic fish, Demersal fish, Invertebrates, Other (please specify)

Q12. What best fits the focus of your research? Stock estimates of economically relevant species, Threat of invasive species, Protection of at-risk species, Food availability, Ecosystem dynamics

Q13. What approach do you use? Targeted – presence/absence, Targeted – abundance estimate, Targeted – population genetics, Metabarcoding – community pattern and processes, Other (please specify)

Q14. What type of studies are you working on? Within the Institute, National collaboration, International collaboration

Pilot studies
Technical development
Research projects
Implementation process
Established resource management

Skip logic from Q14 “Established resource management”

Q15. Optional. Please provide reference/link to the established management program

Skip logic from Q4 “Impact assessment”

Q16. What environment or habitat are you focusing on? Seabed, Kelp forest, Coastal, Open ocean, Other (please specify)

Q17. Which circumstances are you investigating for potential impact? Aquaculture industry, Oil drilling industry, Resource harvesting industry, Other pollution, Human activity/traffic, Other (please specify)

Q18. Which larger taxonomic group are you working with? Bacteria, Phytoplankton, Zooplankton, Invertebrates, Fish, Marine mammals, Other (please specify)

Q19. What approach do you use? Targeted – presence/absence, Targeted – abundance estimate, Targeted – population genetics, Metabarcoding – community pattern and processes, Other (please specify)

Q20. What type of studies are you working on? Within the Institute, National collaboration, International collaboration

Pilot studies
Technical development
Research projects
Implementation process
Established monitoring

Skip logic from Q20 “Established monitoring”

Q21. Optional. Please provide reference(s) for the established monitoring work

Q22. What are your typical project roles? Administrative support, Technical support, Project management, Researcher

Q23. How are your projects funded? ½–2 years, 3–5 years, Long term monitoring

In-house funding
National research funds
International research funds
Industry funding
National policy based

Q24. Which sample types do you work with and do you use a standard protocol for each sample type? Always the same protocol, Same protocol if possible, Various protocols, Standard for some procedures only

Sea-water
Sediment or bulk samples (i.e. settlement plates, plankton trawls,..)

Q25. Who typically decides which protocols to use? Project manager, Institute/Department, Consortium, Work package leader, I don’t know, Other (please specify)

Q26. What is the choice of protocol based on? Project/purpose based, Practicality/opportunity based, Institutional practice, Current gold standards, Aligning to international schemes, I don’t know

Q27. Optional. Which international sampling protocols do you align to and/or recommend?

Skip logic from Q24 “Sea-water”

Q28. How do you typically collect your samples? Deployed Automatic samplers, Automatic samplers on ships, pumps, Niskin bottles / water samplers, I don’t know, Other (please specify)

Q29. What is your typical filtering method? Closed/Sterivex filtering system, Open filtering system, Varies, I don’t know

Q30. What mesh size(s) do your filters typically have? ~0.2µm, ~0.4 µm, ~0.7 µm, 10–20 µm, > 20 µm

Whole sample
Size fractioned sample

Q31. How do you store the filters, samples and extracted DNA? -18 °C, -80 °C, Ethanol, Depends on practicality, Depends on duration, I don’t know

Sterivex filter
Other filters
Sediment/bulk samples
DNA

Q32. How do you archive the filters, samples and extracted DNA? In-house Bioank system, Open access Biobank system, No formal archiving system, I don’t know

Filters / samples
DNA

Q33. Do you have access to the DNA for other projects/purposes at a later time if needed? Yes, Yes - by request, I don’t know, No, For some projects only

Q34. Do you sometimes compare eDNA methods with more traditional methods in your work? Yes, No

Skip logic from Q34 “Yes”

Q35. How explicit are your comparisons)? Sampling as similar in time and space as possible for eDNA and other method(s), Relatively independent sampling strategies but with same objective, A mixture of both depending on project

Q36. What do you compare between eDNA and other methods in your work and what are the results? Concordance, Discordance, Varying results

Diversity
Abundance
Biomass
Community structure
Presence/absence

Q37. Do you think eDNA methods need to be directly comparable with other traditional method(s) before implementation? Yes, No, Undecided, Depends on application

Q38. What are the main challenges for standardization/alignment of eDNA protocols (not including downstream analysis)? Main challenge, Problematic, Not a problem, I don’t know

Sample collection
Financial issues
How to select protocol to align to
Lack of knowledge about how others work
Lack of communication between researchers/Institutes
eDNA protocols are still in a developmental stage

Q39. What are the main challenges for implementation of eDNA methods in established biomonitoring programs? Main challenge, Problematic, Not a problem, I don’t know

Policy issues
Lack of continuity in funding
Lack of Institutional support
Lack of National biomonitoring programs
Lack of standardization of eDNA methods
Lack of validation of eDNA methods
Lab infrastructure
Local know-how