Albania’s only marine research laboratory

The laboratory is involved in several EU-funded projects, one of which is studying the impact of derelict fishing gear and other marine litter on the long term health of the Adriatic.

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The Faculty of Agriculture and Environment at the Agricultural University of Tirana has a laboratory for aquaculture and fishery. The laboratory is based in Durres and is led by Dr Jerina Kolitari, a specialist in fish otoliths.

The laboratory is responsible for a number of national and international projects for which it has to collect and analyse data related to the marine environment and make the results available to the other project partners. But the laboratory also has several core functions, for example, it monitors the water in the Adriatic and the Ionian Seas as well as inland water bodies, testing it for various chemical and biological substances. Among the tests carried out at the laboratory is one that measures chlorophyll a. This is a green pigment found in plants that allows them to photosynthesise, that is, create energy from light. The amount of chlorophyll a contained in a sample is an indicator of the amount of photosynthesising plants (macro and microalgae) that are present in the water.

Comparing mussel growth in different areas

The ability to measure chlorophyll a is a relatively recent development that is thanks to a Norwegian project, which enabled the laboratory to invest in the necessary equipment. It is now being used to check the concentrations of chlorophyll a in the Butrinti Lagoon, an important site for the production of mussels in Albania. As the level of chlorophyll a is a proxy for the presence of phytoplankton, which is what mussels feed on, the results of this sampling is important for the lagoon’s mussel producers. The concentration of phytoplankton is determined by a number of factors, including the level of exchange of water between the sea and the lagoon; wind; and temperature. Because of the presence of phytoplankton Butrinti Lagoon has historically been the centre of mussel cultivation in Albania. Now however attempts are being made to grow mussels in the Adriatic Sea off Shengjin in the north of the country. The laboratory has therefore used its newly-developed abilities to make a comparison of the chlorophyll a content of the water from the Butrinti Lagoon and from the sea of Shengjin. The test also compared the volume of mussel meat in mussels from the two areas.

The results showed that phytoplankton levels in the Butrinti Lagoon were higher than those in the sea at Shengjin and, in keeping with this finding, mussels from the Butrinti Lagoon also had a higher flesh content than those cultivated in the sea. The laboratory also has the facilities to test salinity, oxygen, the presence of toxins, and other parameters to assess the health and safety of the water. It is therefore involved in an international project involving mussels that will measure and compare the amount of toxins in the water and their uptake in the mussel flesh. The participating countries are Italy, Slovenia, Albania, Greece and Croatia. To prevent the origin of the mussels from interfering with the results all the mussels are taken from a single source in Italy. They are then returned to the sea in the different countries for four months and finally harvested and sent back to Italy for analysis. The results should show the levels of toxins in the different countries in the areas where the mussels were grown.

Contributing to knowledge on stocks in the Adriatic

The laboratory also monitors stocks of demersal and pelagic fish in the Adriatic to calculate the dynamics of the different populations. For the last years the results have showed that demersal stocks in Albania are falling. For the pelagics the situation is a bit different with greater fluctuation in stock sizes. In the case of the research into the demersal stocks, the scientists took 27 samples (catch hauls) from the Albanian part of the Adriatic to see what and how much was caught. The results from different parts of the Adriatic were then collected to get an overall picture and they showed among other things that four demersal stocks were over exploited (including red mullet, hake, and a certain species of shrimp). The results of these surveys are sent to different bodies like the GFCM and the European Union to be incorporated into their fisheries management policies. The laboratory thus plays an important role in providing the scientific basis for policy recommendations, which Albania, although not a member of the EU, is bound to follow.

Over and above its core tasks the laboratory has been involved in two EU co-funded projects for the last two years. The ballast water management for Adriatic Sea protection (BALMAS) project involves institutes in six countries around the Adriatic, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Albania. Ballast water has been internationally recognised as a vector for harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens and the objective of the project is to establish a common cross-border system, which will link all researchers, experts and responsible national authorities from Adriatic countries in order to avoid unwanted risks to the environment from the transfer of these organisms and pathogens. The Adriatic is vulnerable due to its importance as an international seaway used by vessels from all over the world to ship cargo to and from Europe. Estimates of ballast water discharged at Adriatic ports amount to 10m litres a year, a figure that is expected to keep growing given the foreseen increase in shipping in the area. Dr Kolitari’s laboratory has been sampling the water from the ballast tanks of foreign and Albanian vessels in the port of Durres. This sampling will contribute to the collection of data, the lack of which has been one of the key barriers to solving the problem of harmful aquatic organisms.

Partner in scientific consortium fighting marine litter

Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea are threatened by marine litter which has impacts on the environment, as well as on the health and safety of both marine organisms and humans. To deal with the problem in the Adriatic region institutions from the seven countries around the Adriatic including the Agricultural University of Tirana are collaborating on another EU co-funded project, DeFishGear. The project looks individually at the impact of marine litter, microplastics, and discarded fishing
gear, all of which constitute significant threats to the long term health of the Adriatic. The ultimate goal of the project is to reduce the amount of all types of marine litter in the Adriatic. By systematically monitoring its presence, building a greater understanding of its origin and impact and using this knowledge to influence policy, participants in the project hope to achieve a cleaner and healthier marine environment in the Adriatic over time. The laboratory for aquaculture and fishery, which will carry out the tasks on behalf of the Agricultural University of Tirana, is responsible for the collection and analysis of data on marine litter in the ports of Durres and Vlore. Jerina Kolitari is using a series of questionnaires targeted at different users of the sea, including fishers, farmers, and tourist facilities such as hotels, to collect information about the extent and type of litter among other data. Sampling is also carried out by the laboratory using manta nets that are built to collect samples on the surface of the water. The samples are then analysed in the laboratory, fish caught in the net, for example, are dissected and their digestive tracts examined for the presence of microplastics. These refer to small plastic particles that are less than 5 mm in size and are a hazard to marine organisms because of the damage they can do to the digestive tract, but also because they facilitate the absorption of organic and inorganic pollutants that adhere to the surface of the particles. With this kind of research activity the laboratory is actively contributing to a safer and healthier Adriatic.