PICES Workshop on Ecological Indicators for the North Pacific
Several AFSC scientists participated in an international workshop organized by the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) and partially funded by the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB), 1-3 June 2006 in Seattle. Pat Livingston, Director of the AFSC’s Resource Ecology and Fisheries Management (REFM) Division was a coconvenor, Kerim Aydin, Anne Hollowed, and Jeff Napp were discussion group leaders, and several other scientists from the AFSC, Pacific Marine and Environmental Laboratory, and University of Washington’s Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean were presenters and discussants at this international workshop.
The purpose of the workshop was to evaluate the utility of ecosystem indicators to explain processes underlying marine production and to serve as early warning signals of ecosystem change. The focus was on Bering Sea management objectives and indicators and evaluating the indicators in the AFSC’s Ecosystem Considerations Section and the PICES North Pacific Ecosystem Status Report. Recommendations from the workshop will include those relating to refining indicators, improving change detection methodologies, identifying gaps in the monitoring network, and ways to communicate results.
