In the last sampling round of the project we collected zooplankton, ice fauna and polar cod during a cruise with R/V ‘Jan Mayen’ (University of Tromsų) in the marginal ice zone north of Spitsbergen and in the Fram strait. We conducted the following sampling procedures to collect zooplankton, ice fauna and polar cod at and in the vicinity of two ice stations (st. 882: N 82° 27'/ E 32° 55' and st. 890: N 76° 45'/ W 08° 07'):

Calanoid copepods Calanus hyperboreus stage C V and females were collected with MEGA net (1550 m m mesh) and Tucker trawl (2000 m m mesh). The samples were stored in polypropylene buckets until processed (identified and sorted under stereoscopic microscopes).

Euphausiids (Thysanoessa inermis) and amphipods (Parathemisto libellula) were collected with MEGA net (1550 m m mesh), Tucker trawl (2000 m m mesh) and bottom trawl. The samples were stored in polypropylene buckets until processed (identified and sorted under stereoscopic microscope, length measurements).

Ice fauna (Onisimus glacialis, Onisimus nanseni, Apherusa glacialis and Gammarus wilkitzkii) were collected by divers using suction pumps. The ice stations were on floes consisting of multiyear ice. The placements of the stations were such that the ice fauna data are comparable to data collected in September 1998 (same water masses, approximately the same geographic position, age of sea ice). Length measurements of all Onisimus spp. and G. wilkitzkii specimens.

Polar cod (Boreogadus saida) were collected by divers using hand held nets, and by bottom trawl. We measured the total length of each fish, preserved the stomach on 70 % ethanol and dissected the otoliths to store them on glycerol. The rest of the fish was frozen whole at -20 ° C for analysis of POPs.

All samples for POPs analysis are stored frozen at -20 ° C in containers of polypropylene. The analysis of POPs (organochlorines; HCHs, HCB, chlordanes, DDTs, non-planar PCBs, Mirex) will be carried out at the Environmental Toxicology Laboratory, The Norwegian College of Veterinary Medicine, Oslo, Norway, during the autumn 1999 and spring 2000.

Table. 1. Summary of the organisms which were sampled at the different stations

The sampling of organisms during the project is now ended, and we will continue the analysis of POPs during autumn 1999 and spring 2000. We plan to have all the results during spring 2000.