SHARK - National Epibenthos monitoring in Sweden since 1992

Epibenthos has been nationally monitored in Sweden since 1992. The monitoring program was initiated by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and later the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management took over the responsibility and financing of the program. The monitoring is performed by Stockholm University, University of Gothenburg and Linnaeus University. The data is stored in the database SHARK, hosted and maintained by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. The epibenthos monitoring program studies hard and soft bottoms from the surface down to 10-20 meters. Data is collected in transects or squares with help of divers. Species abundances are determined directly by the divers or photographs are taken and analyzed later. More information is available in Swedish at https://www.havochvatten.se/hav/samordning--fakta/miljoovervakning/miljoovervakningens-programomrade-kust-och-hav/delprogram-vegetationskladda-bottnar.html