Pärnu Marine Laboratory

The Pärnu Marine Laboratory of the Estonian Marine Institute is located in the city of Pärnu and serves as a key research site for studies on fish, benthos, plankton, and marine litter.

Workplaces /accommodation capacity: 11/10

The following research activities can be conducted at the Pärnu Marine Laboratory:

• surveys of major commercial fish stocks;
• fisheries monitoring (e.g. net monitoring, test trawling);
• expert assessments related to fisheries;
• studies of fish spawning areas;
• studies of fish larvae and juvenile stages;
• determination of fish migrations and habitat use based on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) isotope analyses;
• investigation of fish and fish larvae habitats (spawning areas) using molecular biological methods;
• collection and preservation of various tissue samples;
• measurement of water quality parameters using appropriate sondes;
• preservation, taxonomic identification, and determination of abundance and biomass of zoo- and ichthyoplankton, including the use of an automatic analyser (ZooScan);
• laboratory experiments (e.g. monitoring development and parthenogenetic reproduction of fertilised eggs) using climate chambers with controlled environmental conditions;
• counting, measuring, and determining the individual mass of plankton organisms;
• drying (up to 300 °C) and deep freezing (down to -96 °C) of marine organisms, plants, and algae.