The Thünen Institute of Fisheries Ecology (TI-FI) is one of the federal research centres under the German Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Safety. It has expertise in agriculture, forest ecology and fisheries. The Institute of Fisheries Ecology, one of TI-FIs science institutes, addresses issues related to the effects of anthropogenic pressures on marine ecosystems, with a focus on the effects in fish from the North and Baltic Seas. It is responsible for national chemical and biological monitoring with regards to hazardous substances in biota from offshore regions.

Within the CHEMSEA project, TI-FI is mainly involved in the ecological risk assessment. They will use their expertise and facilities to study and assess the effects of chemical warfare agents on the health of commercially important fish species such as cod, flounder and herring (diseases, parasitology and histopathological studies). Sampling will be integrated with the TI-FI’s long-term fish disease monitoring programme for the Baltic Sea. TI-FI will organise and carry out the CHEMSEA fish health surveys and sampling campaigns onboard its research vessel "Walther Herwig III". TI-FI will also host the 4^th CHEMSEA conference in Hamburg.

Key contacts:

• Thomas Lang - Senior scientist & Deputy Director, CHEMSEA project manager (thomas.lang@ti.bund.de),
• Nicolai Fricke - Scientist & communication officer (nicolai.fricke@ti.bund.de)