Final Report of the Fifth Meeting of Scientific Experts on Fish Stocks in the Central Arctic Ocean

This report provides a summary of the 5th meeting of scientific experts on Fish Stocks in the Central Arctic Ocean (FiSCAO) on October 24‐26, 2017, in Ottawa, Canada. At the request of the 10 parties negotiating on an agreement to prevent unregulated commercial fishing in the High Seas portion of the Central Arctic Ocean (CAO), participants of the 5th FiSCAO meeting were tasked with addressing four Terms of Reference, summarized below: ToR 1. Design a 1‐3 year long mapping program. ToR 2. Design a monitoring program. ToR 3. Identify human, financial, vessel/equipment resources needed for mapping and monitoring. ToR 4. Develop data collection, sharing, and hosting protocols that outline the details of what and how data shall be collected, shared, and hosted for consideration by the Parties. The 5th FiSCAO meeting included scientific representatives from seven states including Canada, the People's Republic of China, the European Union, Iceland, the Republic of Korea, the Kingdom of Norway and the United States of America. The meeting also included representatives from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) and the Arctic Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) and Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working groups. The report summarizes the elements for collecting baseline data (i.e., a mapping program) in the high seas CAO to achieve the goals of documenting species distributions, relative abundances and key ecosystem parameters (ToR 1). The mapping program describes the priority areas to sample, the types of data to collect and possible data collection approaches to employ. Participants emphasized that existing planned surveys are very limited, and that significant dedicated resources will be required to implement the mapping program. The report outlines a strategy for monitoring indicators of fish stocks and ecosystem components (ToR 2). The report includes a list of existing monitoring programs and a prioritized list of indicators to detect environmental change in the high seas CAO. Further refinement of a monitoring program will use information from the mapping program (ToR 1). Participants emphasized the need to begin monitoring as soon as possible and that additional research is required to operationalize monitoring indicators. The report summarizes the preliminary cost estimates (ToR 3) to implement a mapping program to collect data in the high seas portion of the CAO using a vessel of opportunity and in the Pacific Gateway region of the CAO using an independently‐organized survey. Cost implications for the monitoring program and other scientific activities are also listed (e.g., data analysis, data management). The report includes a draft data sharing policy as the foundation for a future data sharing protocol, including the technical specifications for data sharing (ToR 4). The development of the data sharing protocol will require negotiation and legal review among the participating states. A data management and data sharing pilot study on a CAO fish database is suggested to test a framework

ICES Scientific Reports. 3:17. 59 pp

The Workshop on methods and guidelines to link human activities, pressures and state of the ecosystem in Ecosystem Overviews (WKTRANSPARENT) focused on advancing the interdisci- plinary contributions to the ICES Ecosystem Overviews. The Ecosystem Overviews are central to ICES approach to support evidence-based ecosystem-based management across ICES ecore- gions and facilitate our capacity to provide integrated ecosystem advice. Experts in natural, eco- nomic, and social sciences met to advance the following objectives: i) identify and evaluate ap- proaches for the incorporation of ecosystem processes and functions, ii) review methodological approaches for prioritizing main pressures, and iii) propose updates to technical guidelines. Two perspectives on the relevance of ecosystem functions and processes were explored: i) exten- sion of the direct effects to ecosystem services, and ii) inclusion of indirect effects to understand how the direct impacts may have knock-on effects on other ecosystem components. Multiple risk assessment approaches were reviewed to identify candidate methodologies for use in prioritizing the main pressures present in each ecoregion. A downscaled approach using Op- tions for Delivering Ecosystem-based Marine Management (ODEMM) focusing on the risk as- pects was selected as the most suitable method. Elements for inclusion in the assessment were agreed, and future developments such as cumulative effects assessments and inclusion of eco- system services were discussed. Proposed updates to the technical guidelines included, amongst others, i) a revised structure of the overviews, ii) a proposal for a major revision of the methodology for the human activity- pressure-ecosystem state component network figure, and iii) the addition of several new sections that describe the process of updating and revising, the feedback mechanisms, and the adoption of a pipeline process to incorporate new topics. In addition, glossaries on human activities, pres- sures and ecosystem state components were provided. The work on technical guidelines will form the basis for updating ICES Technical Guidelines of Ecosystem Overviews. In order to further advance the Ecosystem Overviews, WKTRANSPARENT recommends (1) ar- ranging a new workshop to identify options to incorporate ecosystem services, (2) seeking fur- ther development of ideas for the inclusion of foodweb information, and (3) organising a training event on ecosystem assessment methods