On Wednesday 23 November, the Conservation Plan for the Harbour Porpoise was presented to Mr Bleker, State Secretary for Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation. This conservation plan was written by Kees Camphuysen (NIOZ) and Marije Siemensma (Marine Science & Communication, MSC). It presents an extensive overview of the current state of knowledge, the principal threats and the possibilities for protecting this small type of whale in the Dutch North Sea.

‘The availability of iron varies in different oceans’. This is one of the results of research carried out by Charles-Edouard Thuróczy, a scientist working at NIOZ, in the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans. Thuróczy found trends in the availability of iron, both horizontally and vertically in the sea water. Iron importantly combines with dissolved organic matter, which means that the iron remains available for phytoplankton. Thuróczy will defend his thesis on this research project at the University of Groningen on 21 November 2011.

Cold-water corals form coral hills mounds on the ocean floor. NIOZ scientist Cees van der Land demonstrated in his thesis that these coral mounds do not grow during ice ages, but rather become abraded. After the end of the most recent ice age, about 11,000 years ago, these mounds began to grow. Van der Land analyzed coral mounds off the west coast of Ireland and he will defend his thesis on these at the VU University Amsterdam on Monday 7 November 2011.

A symposium on aquatic viruses will be held at NIOZ from 30 October to 3 November,. Almost all scientists worldwide working on viruses in both fresh and salt water will come together to discuss their latest findings. Viruses may often be associated with diseases, but they can play very beneficial roles as well.