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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre
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Sustainable fisheries
DEMO
Towards more ecosystem based fishery

Towards more ecosystem based fishery

Stockholm University takes action in developing a more ecosystem based fishery management. During a week in late August, twenty marine scientists from most of the Baltic countries met to outline the first steps towards a future system for ecosystem based management and advice for assessing the Baltic Sea fish stock. The project is led by Maciej T. Tomczak at the Baltic Sea Centre.

During this workshop the scientists focused on environmetal assessment that could support management advice for the Baltic cod stock. The work will result in a portfolio of environmental indicators that show the state of the Baltic Sea ecosystem in relation to the potential reproductive success of the cod stock. The indicator portfolio has been developed based on indicator screening and selection using expert knowledge and extensive statistical analyses. The aim is to improve the presently unclear apprehension of this fish stock of socio-economic importance.

Aims at improving fisheries management in the Baltic Sea

The assessment of the environment in relation to the cod stock is the first step towards developing and testing a full ecosystem based approach that could be used for integrated advice for the three commercially important Baltic Sea fish stocks cod, herring and sprat. The DEMO project builds on the model of integrated environmental assessment as developed in the United States by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The project will demonstrate the feasibility of developing traditional single-species approaches into ecosystem based fisheries management in the Baltic Sea. The recent surprising changes in cod stock show the urgent need for developing such an ecosystem based approach, that would make it possible to give more informed advice to the EU Agricultural and Fisheries Council when they decide on fish quoatas in the Baltic Sea.

The results from the first DEMO workshop will be presented in a Baltic Eye policy brief for media and policymakers.

Watch short interviews with some of the researchers within the DEMO-project:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjBr9cfayt4TD269dBJSZ6o1jWK0lBQBT

Last updated: September 1, 2014
Page editor: Nastassja Ekelöf
Source: Baltic Sea Centre

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Facts DEMO

DEMO - DEMOnstration exercise for Integrated Ecosystem Assessment and Advice of Baltic Sea fish stocks. Project period: 2014-2015

The project is a part of the scientific think tank Baltic Eye at Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre, and led by Maciej T. Tomczak, Stockholm University, Sweden and Christian Möllmann, University of Hamburg, Germany. The workshops are financed by Granholms stiftelse.

Contact: Maciej Tomczak, maciej.tomczak@su.se

Four workshops in a year

Four workshops with different themes will be held during the project period. The workshops will gather scientists from around the Baltic Sea, as well as from other areas, with experience and expertize relevant for each workshop. Each workshop will result in both a scientific output of a per-reviewed paper and a policy brief for a wider audience.

DEMO-1 – Askö, 25–29 August 2014 Status evaluation of the Eastern Baltic cod stock and its environment
DEMO-2 – Lysekil (in connection to ICES SGSPATIAL) 10-12 of November 2014 Analysis of growth changes in Eastern Baltic cod
DEMO-3 – Cadiz (in connection with ICES/HELCOM WGIAB) 9-13 of March 2015 Using environmental information in stock population dynamic models, assessment and predictions
DEMO-4 – To be set, Development of Integrated Assessment and Advice for Baltic fish stocks –DEMO

DEMO

Towards more ecosystem based fishery

Aims at improving fisheries management in the Baltic Sea

Facts DEMO

Four workshops in a year

Research focus areas