The role of fish and fishing in the marine carbon budget is an area of growing interest in the context of the marine biological carbon pump (BCP) helping to regulate atmospheric CO2 levels. Fish represent a component of the BCP, and fishing and fish removals are likely to perturb that contribution. Fishing may also lead to food web changes that in turn alter the carbon budget. In addition, fishing gear is known to have direct impacts on the seafloor, e.g. re-suspending sediment, and hence carbon, and potentially altering the benthic community dynamics with further possible impacts on carbon sequestration. And then there is the issue of the fuel use emissions footprint of fishing.
All this makes for a complex picture of fishing in a climate change perspective.
This workshop is designed to review all these issues together and to chart a roadmap for future research and pathways to ecosystem-informed advice and management approaches.
Many, if not most, of the publications linked above focus on one aspect of the relationship, but a more holistic approach is now warranted. Given the need for a wider, multi- or trans-disciplinary approach, we would seek contributors with a range of skills and knowledge. This would range from biogeochemists and physical oceanographers to fishing gear and vessel technologists, and include multi-species modelers, benthic biologists and fisheries scientists, as well as social scientists working in the social-ecological systems arena.
We encourage in-person participation, but online participationg will also be possible.
Draft agenda:
Tuesday 25 April
First session 10:00-13:00 CEST hybrid: welcome, aims and science presentations
Second session 14:00-17:00 CEST in person only: discussion
Wednesday 26 April
First session 09:30-13:00 CEST hybrid: science presentations and discussion
Second session 14:00-17:00 CEST in person only: discussion
Thursday 27 April
First session 09:30-13:00 CEST hybrid: science presentations and discussion
Second session 14:00-15:30 CEST in person only: discussion
Third session 16:00-16:30 CEST hybrid: closing presentation and future steps
