Joint ICES-SEAwise WP3 Benchmarking Workshop

Recognised as a key aspect of Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (EBFM), environmental factors such as water temperature and nutrient availability can have a profound impact on the productivity of fish stocks, and thus fisheries. Under our Ecological Effects on Fisheries work theme, SEAwise has worked to improve our understanding of these effects and our ability to predict their potential long-term impacts, in an effort to enhance future management advice.

Based on this work, a joint ICES-SEAwise workshop will be held in May to quality assure the methods used to incorporate environmental factors and quantify ecological considerations in Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) tools (WKEcoMSE). Going beyond commonly used single-species analysis, SEAwise is working to further develop multi-stock and multi-fleet models so they can be used to define and evaluate fisheries management strategies that address EBFM objectives, including identifying rules that can best accommodate changes in productivity. 

During the workshop, participants will review methods, including those specifically used by SEAwise, in terms of their capacity to incorporate the impact of environmental factors on the productivity of commercial stocks in MSEs; evaluate guidelines for use of these methods (e.g. in terms of data, statistical models, their capacity to predict, and issues arising relating to uncertainty); and make recommendations on their use as part of European management processes.

Find further details on the workshop, including how to register below.

Following completion of the workshop, a course will be organised towards the end of 2024 based on its outcomes.