Component 1 - Large Marine Ecosystem Activities
General description of activities
The activities of the marine component are being carried out by combining the activities of several laboratories related to specific areas of environmental management concerning the health of the ecosystem, productivity, fish, data management and socio-economic assessment. Assessing and upgrading the scientific capacity of the participating institutions and laboratories is an important element of the BSRP. It is essential to ensure that all participating bodies have equal capacity to operate, and that new techniques, methods and practices can be introduced and implemented throughout the Eastern Baltic Region at the same time. Such capacity building activities support the establishment of regional thematic centres of excellence around the thematic areas of the LME concept listed above.
The goal of the component was to develop the level of basin-wide collaboration among technical agencies needed to provide guidance to riparian Governments on how to establish sustainable management of the Baltic Sea marine ecosystem. The project achieved this to a significant extent through establishing and operationalizing a functioning network of environmental institutions in all riparian states, enhancing technical capacity in the Eastern Baltic Countries, and through developing and piloting regional approaches to monitoring and assessment. The component has already delivered valuable results, and the functioning networks of thematic expertise are likely to be maintained through operation of an array of permanent international groups that have since been established, including the Baltic Ecosystem Health, Productivity, and Fisheries Assessment study groups, as well as working groups on Integrated Assessment of the Baltic (all established under ICES), and regular workshop on coastal fish monitoring (established under HELCOM). Network participants continue to contribute significantly to development of the HELCOM-sponsored Baltic Sea Action Plan, with emphasis on ensuring that targets are both meaningful and achievable. They will also be involved in the future monitoring of progress against environmental targets. Specific outputs with respect to each thematic area are described in the status report (see link below).
General description of activities
The activities of the marine component are being carried out by combining the activities of several laboratories related to specific areas of environmental management concerning the health of the ecosystem, productivity, fish, data management and socio-economic assessment. Assessing and upgrading the scientific capacity of the participating institutions and laboratories is an important element of the BSRP. It is essential to ensure that all participating bodies have equal capacity to operate, and that new techniques, methods and practices can be introduced and implemented throughout the Eastern Baltic Region at the same time. Such capacity building activities support the establishment of regional thematic centres of excellence around the thematic areas of the LME concept listed above.
The goal of the component was to develop the level of basin-wide collaboration among technical agencies needed to provide guidance to riparian Governments on how to establish sustainable management of the Baltic Sea marine ecosystem. The project achieved this to a significant extent through establishing and operationalizing a functioning network of environmental institutions in all riparian states, enhancing technical capacity in the Eastern Baltic Countries, and through developing and piloting regional approaches to monitoring and assessment. The component has already delivered valuable results, and the functioning networks of thematic expertise are likely to be maintained through operation of an array of permanent international groups that have since been established, including the Baltic Ecosystem Health, Productivity, and Fisheries Assessment study groups, as well as working groups on Integrated Assessment of the Baltic (all established under ICES), and regular workshop on coastal fish monitoring (established under HELCOM). Network participants continue to contribute significantly to development of the HELCOM-sponsored Baltic Sea Action Plan, with emphasis on ensuring that targets are both meaningful and achievable. They will also be involved in the future monitoring of progress against environmental targets. Specific outputs with respect to each thematic area are described in the status report (see link below).
The activities were supervised by
Jan Thulin (Component 1 Coordinator)
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)
Tel. +45 3338 6715
Fax. +45 3393 4215
Andris Andrushaitis (Component 1 Assistant Coordinator)
Institute of Aquatic Ecology, University of Latvia
Tel. +371 7 610 851
Fax. +371 7 601 995
Main reports produced by Component 1
