ICES, PICES, and FAO International Symposium: Climate Change Effects on Fish and Fisheries: Forceasting Impacts, Assessment Ecosystem Responses, and Evaluating Management Strategies
Climate change has many impacts on marine ecosystems and on human uses of ecosystem services. Improved scientific support for policy and management decision-making in the face of these potential impacts is essential. To facilitate the advancement of this critical research, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES), and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) held an international symposium in Sendai, Japan, on April 25-29.
Anne Hollowed, Senior Scientist and Program Manager of the Status of Stocks and Multispecies Assessments (SSMA) Program, served as a symposium convener. The symposium was convened to provide a forum for scientists and policymakers to discuss the potential impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems and uses of these ecosystems, and to consider the strategies that society can take to be prepared for anticipated impacts.
The 2010 symposium builds on the 2008 ICES, PICES, and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission International Symposium on the Effects of Climate Change on the World's Oceans, which was held in Gijon, Spain, in May 2008. The 2010 symposium:
provided a forum to discuss techniques for investigating the impacts of climate change on population parameters, distribution, migration, production, and abundance of fish and shellfish in capture and cultured fisheries and on food web processes supporting fish and shellfish;
provided an opportunity for scientists to discuss their observational, analytical, and modeling approaches with other research teams in order to stimulate methodological improvements;
allowed experts to identify analytical techniques needed to reliably forecast climate change impacts on marine fish and shellfish populations including methods for quantifying the uncertainty in projections and ways to address the uncertainty in policy and management; and
allowed experts from diverse disciplines to discuss policies and strategies for society and users of marine resources in the face of a changing climate and altered marine ecosystems.
SSMA staff Anne Hollowed, Jim Ianelli, and Teresa A’mar gave presentations. Their respective abstracts follow.
