By Debbi Pedreschi

At the ICES 2023 Annual Science Conference, on September 12th 2023, MISSION ATLANTIC WP1 Co Lead and Senior Scientist Dr. Benjamin Planque (Institute of Marine Research (IMR)), was one of the conveners of a successful and innovative session on ‘Future Integrated Ecosystem Assessments’ (IEA). The session aimed to facilitate knowledge exchange on IEA best practices and lessons learned, as well as to inspire future progress by identifying challenges, opportunities and recent developments. This work is deeply linked to the MISSION ATLANTIC work on IEA.

The highly interactive session began with Dr. Planque presenting new research carried out specifically for the ASC, detailing responses from a survey of the ICES Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) groups on their methods, approaches and challenges. The session included a mix of presentations of regional case studies, methodological approaches, and the current and future context surrounding IEA work. Mission Atlantic was well represented, with four additional Mission Atlantic presentations on the day, from Inês Gomes, Marcos Llope and Debbi Pedreschi, representing 3 MISSION ATLANTIC case studies (NOMAR, CCLME, Celtic Sea). As such there was a very high representation of MISSION ATLANTIC at the ICES 2023 Annual Science Conference.

Some key messages emerged from the session presentations and engaging discussions. These highlighted that more work is needed to integrate climate change and future trajectories in IEA work, and challenges remain around communication and translation into policy and formal advice. Acknowledging that substantial progress has been made in recent years, more integration of social and economic aspects are needed, including working directly with stakeholders. While initiatives like the Mission Atlantic project have been critical in advancing methods and building capacity, a primary challenge remains in how this work continues beyond the lifespan of a project.

MISSION ATLANTIC Presenters at the ICES 2023 Annual Science Conference (ICESASC23), from left to right: Benjamin Planck, Debbi Pedreschi, Marcos Llope, Inês Gomes. Picture credit: ICESASC23 (https://whova.com/portal/icesa_202309/videos/4YDNzIzN3IjM/)

MISSION ATLANTIC-related presentations:

• Planque et al. ICES IEA groups: what they are doing, why, how and for whom
• Pedreschi & Reid. Integrated ecosystem assessments (IEA) are hard; challenges of scale, focus, integration, interaction and managing complexity in the Celtic Sea/s
• Cabrera-Busto et al. Presented by Marcos Llope. Integrated Assessment of the Canary Current large marine ecosystem with a focus on the Canary Islands and Senegal-Gambia-Guinea-Bissau subregions
• Gomes et al. Integrated Ecosystem Assessment in a remote archipelago context

Read the session report as published in Book of Abstracts: ICES. 2023. Theme Session H – Future Integrated Ecosystem Assessments. ICES Annual Science Conference 2023, Bilbao, Spain. https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.24420292.