Ellen Sofie Grefsrud

My main area of ​​work is currently risk assessment of environmental effects and animal welfare in fish farming, but my background includes research on shellfish. Master's and PhD focused on scallop sea ranching (Pecten maximus), and included predator-prey interactions, shell strength and shell structure. Other work with scallops includes mapping of larger occurrences of the great scallop and Iceland scallop along the Norwegian coast, effects of ocean acidification on scallop larvae and effects of salmon farming on scallops. From 2019 I have been responsible for monitoring large scallops with a particular focus on northern distribution. My postdoctoral work included issues related to sea ranching and the restocking of conch populations in Florida. I have also been involved in the work with sea ranchin of European lobster (Homarus gammarus) as well as the effects of ocean acidification and the effect of anti-lice agents on lobster larvae. Other projects I contribute to are the mapping of alien marine species and "Environment and Aquaculture Governance - China".

Since 2017, I have been the chief editor and led the project on environmental risk assessment related to Norwegian fish farming, which is one of the main deliverables in the program for Environmental impacts of aquaculture. Since 2010 the risk assessment has been published annually in the form of the report "Risk report Norwegian fish farming". The work includes the topics "Salmon lice", "Pathogen transmission from aquaculture to wild fish", "Genetic introgression", "Emission of dissolved nutrients", "Emission of particulate organic matter", "Therapeutants", "Pollution", "Use of wild-caught wrasse", "Animal welfare" and "Cod farming". During my period as chief editor, I have led the work, in collaboration with risk expertise from the University of Stavanger, to develop and implement new methodology for environmental risk assessments in fish farming. The methodology is in line with the latest developments in the field of risk and is based on principles and terminology from the Society of Risk Analysis, where risk is defined as consequences of the [farming] activity with associated uncertainty. The methodology has been peer-reviewed and published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science: "Risk understanding and risk acknowledgement: a new approach to environmental risk assessment in marine aquaculture" (Andersen et al. 2022)

In addition to the work with risk assessment at the Institute of Marine Research, I have since 2021 led the working group on environmental effects and risks in aquaculture in the international marine research council ICES: Working group on Risk assessment of Environmental Interactions in Aquaculture (WGREIA).