WGIAB was setup in 2007 as a forum for developing and combining ecosystem-based management efforts for the Baltic Sea. The 2012 meeting of WGIAB is held back-to-back with WGINOSE (WG on Integrated Assessment in the North Sea). During the meeting, the group will will discuss future research, including work to:
a ) Continue the Integrated Status and Trends Assessments for the different Baltic Sea subsystems, including biodiversity aspects, and applying early-warning methods on key indicators of these subsystems;
b ) Further develop the “Biological Ensemble Modelling Approach (BEMA)" as a basis for analysing anthropogenic and natural impacts on ecosystem structure and function, by applying it on available multispecies and foodweb models;
c ) Further develop and promote ecosystem-based advice for Baltic Sea fish stocks based on the Integrated Status and Trends Assessments and indicators of recruitment environments and functions of Baltic Sea fish stocks, and provide these to the WGBFAS;
d ) Enhance understanding of ecosystem processes in the Baltic Sea subsystems by analysing temporal and spatial functional relationships in foodwebs;
e ) Further develop an Integrated Ecosystem Assessment cycle for the Baltic Sea and in close cooperation with other integrated assessment activities within ICES (e.g. WGNARS, WGEAWESS, WGINOSE) and HELCOM, as well as accounting for results from ongoing research projects.
Focus of the meeting
The meeting will focus on the following three things:
(i) Performing comparative Integrated Trend Analyses (ITA) of coastal and off shore ecosystems across the Baltic Sea (a in the list above).
(ii) Developing statistical methods to improve process understanding of food-webs in the Baltic Sea basins, and to identify early warning signals and management target levels, by applying the methods to real basin-specific data sets. ( a and d)
(iii) Discussing and reviewing available tools supporting the Integrated Ecosystem Assessment Framework (e.g. ITA, BEMA, dynamic models, decision support tools), and applying these in a practical exercise to simulate an Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) cycle in the Baltic Sea (b, c and e)
In addition, sessions about modelling approaches supporting the Integrated Ecosystem Assessment framework, decision support tools, and relationships between WGIAB work and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive will be held.
Venue
The meeting takes place at the Baltic Nest Institute in Stockholm. Information about how you find BNI is found here.
The meeting will start at 13.00 on Monday 26th of March, and last until lunch on Friday 30th.
