REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON ECOSYSTEM EFFECTS OF

3,77

MB

FISHING ACTIVITIES (WGECO)

146

stron

3935

ID

International Council for the Explorations of the Sea

2005

rok

Contents

1 Opening of the meeting.

1.1 Acknowledgements.

2 Executive summary.

3 Science Advice to Support the European Marine Strategy

3.1 Context 8 3.1.1 The Policy Context.

3.1.2 The ICES context

3.2 Integrated Management – Science needs and implications.

3.2.1 Role in the European Marine Strategy

3.2.2 Science advice needed for integrated management compared to the current situation

3.2.3 Requirements for success of incremental sectoral approaches.

3.2.4 Alternatives to just augmenting the sectoral advisory approach.

3.3 Regional Management – Science needs and implications.

3.3.1 Role in the European Marine Strategy

3.3.2 Challenges posed by the Regional Focus

3.4 Additional New challenges for science and advice in support of the European Marine Strategy.

3.4.1 What constitutes a Healthy Ecosystem?.

3.4.2 How should Conservation Limits be identified?.

3.4.3 Scenario Modelling and Risk Management

3.4.4 Selecting Appropriate Suites of objectives.

3.4.5 Developing Management Strategies in an Integrated Management Framework

3.5 Short and Medium term actions.

3.5.1 Science contribution of ICES.

3.5.2 The 7 step process for applying the Ecosystem Approach (EC, 2004b and Section 7)

3.5.3 11 tests of progress towards implementation (EC, 2004b and section 8).

3.5.4 Evaluation.

3.6 Challenges to the Potential Role of ICES as the source of Science Advice for the Marine

Strategy.

3.6.1 Links between ICES and other frameworks (OSPAR, WFD, EMS)

3.6.2 EMMA recommendations on monitoring and assessment within the EMS .

3.6.3 What is ICES role?.

3.7 Conclusions and Plan of Action

3.7.1 Main Conclusions.

3.7.2 Short-Term Plan of Action.

3.8 References

4 Fisheries Management Strategies in an Integrated Ecosystem Perspective.

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Incremental changes to the way ICES produces advice

4.2.1 Ecosystem management aspects in HCR

4.3 Mechanisms for examining and advising on the ecosystem consequences of an adaptive

management regime46

4.4 The extent to which an incremental approach to the inclusion of ecosystem considerations will

be sufficient to protect the integrity of the ecosystem

4.5 Alternative models for developing ecosystem based fisheries management.

4.5.1 Fisheries Ecosystem Plans

4.5.2 How could advice be provided to include appropriate consideration of the ecosystem impacts

of a given management unit (e.g. fleet) – The Australian ESD approach

4.5.3 Strategic Environmental Assessment of fisheries.

4.6 Conclusions and recommendations.

4.6.1 MCAP consideration

4.6.2 The need for fleet descriptions in short term advice.

4.6.3 Synchronous meeting of WGECO and SGMAS

4.6.4 Dialogue with the RACs.

4.7 References

5 The REGNS integrated assessment of the North Sea ecosystem.

5.1 Introduction

5.2 An overall REGNS Integrated Assessment.

5.2.1 Introduction

5.2.2 The Canadian experience

5.2.3 The WGECO Integrated Assessment approach

5.3 An approach for evaluating datasets for their use in a REGNS Integrated Assessment.

5.4 Recommendations and Conclusions

5.5 References

6 Indicators and their application in a management framework.

6.1 Introduction

6.1.1 Terminology.

6.2 Selection of ecosystem indicators

6.2.1 State indicators

6.2.2 Pressure indicators

6.2.3 Potential indicators and their evaluation.

6.2.4 Evaluation of indicators

6.2.5 The process of indicator selection.

6.3 Application of indicators in the new ICES Advisory framework

6.3.1 Indicators and Objectives

6.3.2 Indicators and Reference points

6.3.3 Function of Indicators in the New ICES Advisory Framework

6.4 Application of indicators in a management framework.

6.5 Fish and invertebrate taxa which are appropriate to use as indicators of habitat quality .

6.5.1 Introduction

6.5.2 What constitutes a habitat?.

6.5.3 What is habitat quality?

6.5.4 WGECO’s consideration of the scientific aspects of marine benthic habitat quality.

6.5.5 A way forward

6.6 The approach and methods

6.6.1 Criteria

6.6.2 The selection of potential indicator taxa.

6.7 Results and Discussion103

6.7.1 Assessing the suitability of benthic indicator taxa from the OSPAR list of threatened and

declining habitats.

6.7.2 Assessing the suitability of benthic indicator taxa from the 1986 ICES North Sea Benthos

Survey

6.8 Summary and Conclusions

6.9 References

7 Strategic Environmental Assessment for Fisheries.

7.1 Introduction

7.2 The SEA process.

7.3 Scientific information needs of SEA.

7.3.1 Objectives.

7.3.2 Information on status

7.3.3 Information on impacts.

7.3.4 Monitoring

7.4 A framework for ICES to contribute to Strategic Environmental Assessment

7.4.1 Objectives.

7.4.2 Information on status

7.4.3 Information on impacts.

7.4.4 Monitoring and research.

7.5 Implications for ICES organisation.

7.6 References

8 Reference levels for Baltic EcoQOs

8.1 Spatio-temporal definition of reference levels.

8.2 Review of the EcoQOs suggested by SGEH.

8.3 EcoQOs recommended by WGECO

8.4 Recommendations from WGECO.

8.5 References

9 Food for Thought.

10 Recommendations for future activities

10.1 General summary of recommendations.

10.1.1 ICES role in the Marine Strategy: Short-Term Plan of Action.

10.1.2 Ecosystem considerations in fisheries management strategies.

10.1.3 REGNS Integrated Assessment

10.1.4 Reference levels for Baltic EcoQOs.

10.2 Ecosystem effects of fishing: a regional review process.

10.3 Mapping indicators to ecosystem components and human activities: contributing to the

integrated assessment and EMS process.

10.4 Bycatch of industrial fisheries.

10.5 Future meeting of WGECO.

Annex 1: Participants list.143