In 2004, PICES published the first status report
on the marine ecosystems of the North Pacific (PICES. 2004. Marine
ecosystems of the North Pacific. PICES Special Publication 1, 280
p). It reviewed climatic, oceanographic, and fisheries conditions
for all major regions in the North Pacific, with a focus on 1999-2003,
and identified some of the critical factors causing changes in these
ecosystems. Much was learned about the process of assessing the
status of marine ecosystems, but much was also left out of the report.
For example, benthic organisms, near-shore regions and contaminants
were only sparsely discussed, and there were few attempts to provide
synthetic or summary indices of ecosystem state that might be comparable
among regions. In 2004, PICES also produced a report on Fisheries
and Ecosystem Responses to Recent Regime Shifts, which included
updated information that was not in the Ecosystem Status Report.
The new MONITOR Technical Committee has accepted the responsibility
to update this Ecosystem Status Report and to produce the next version.
The purpose of this workshop is to examine the process used to develop
and review the first status report (what worked, what did not),
to consider other models of ecosystem status reports (e.g., ICES,
Global International Waters Assessment, and the recently released
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment), and to identify themes and data
sources that were poorly, or not at all, included in the first version.
Presentations on these topics, and on existing monitoring programs
that could contribute to the next Ecosystem Status Report, and on
new sampling, observation and data processing technologies which
might contribute directly to the next report, are invited.
Publications
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