Jørgen L. S. Hansen is a senior researcher at the Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, where he has studied marine biodiversity and seabed fauna in Danish waters since 1998. His research covers oxygen depletion, the impact of bottom trawling and ecosystem recovery after collapse. A 2024 DCE report he co-authored, documenting far greater damage from bottom trawling than previously assumed, drew wide political and media attention in Denmark.
Hansen contributed as co-author to the annual NOVANA status report 'Marine Areas 2024', published by DCE, Aarhus University.
Hansen participated in a DCE advisory note on strategy for monitoring stations on 27 mudflats in Denmark.
Hansen's DCE report on the effects of bottom trawling on seabed biodiversity became the subject of public debate when DTU researchers raised criticism, which Hansen rejected by referring to good scientific practice.
Hansen contributed expert background knowledge to the Biodiversity Council's note on the use of bottom-dragging fishing gear in protected marine areas.
The DCE report 'Effects of physical disturbance from bottom trawling on seabed biodiversity', with Hansen as lead author, documented that up to 40 % of benthic fauna in large parts of the Kattegat die annually as a result of bottom trawling.
