ICES Ecosystem Overviews use risk-based methods to identify the main human pressures in an ecoregion and explain how these affect key ecosystem components. They provide information on recent trends in the ecosystem and perform a crucial role in providing the context for ecosystem-based management.
ICES Oceanic Northeast Atlantic ecoregion is ICES Area beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), i.e. outside the 200 nautical mile limit of the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of the EU Member States, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. This ecoregion is mostly deeper than 1000 m, with only a small fraction of the seabed (ca. 0.03%) shallower than 500 m. The area comprises mostly extensive abyssal plains, with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), many seamounts, and the Rockall–Hatton Plateau rising above the abyssal plain.
The Workshop on the Oceanic Northeast Atlantic Ecosystem Overview (WKONEA) will prepare an update to the current
Ecosystem Overview for this ecoregion. WKONEA will describe the main environmental drivers for the ecoregion and link the main region-specific human activities to pressures on the ecosystem. It will then link these pressures to the state/impact of relevant ecosystem components, in line with the
EO Technical Guidelines. Where possible, appropriate temporal trends of each ecosystem component will also be described.
WKONEA will take place at ICES Headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark and online (hybrid) from 10–14 February 2025. It will be chaired by Ellen Kenchington (Canada), Laura Grady (UK) and Debbi Pedreschi (Ireland). The workshop will include short plenaries and individual/sub-group tasks.
Workshop participation is open to individuals across all disciplines and expertise including, inter alia, ecologists, biologists, oceanographers, social sciences, economists etc. with knowledge relevant to the Oceanic Northeast Atlantic ecoregion. If you are interested in attending,
please register your interest by 24 January 2025 by sending a message to ICES
reception. Please note that confirmation of your registration may be slower than normal during January.
It would greatly assist with the planning of the workshop if when you register you could also include a brief overview of what you are most interested in contributing/your primary expertise in relation to the workshop (please see Terms of reference below). In-person attendance is encouraged, where possible.
WKONEA Terms of Reference:
a) Review and update the content of the current Ecosystem Overview (EO) including new scientific evidence and best available science. Prepare draft advice for the Oceanic Northeast Atlantic EO.
b) Develop a risk assessment informed by a sector–pressure–ecosystem component approach that examines and scores all direct human activities and associated pressures for the Oceanic Northeast Atlantic ecoregion following the ICES technical guidelines.
c) List gaps in knowledge for the Oceanic Northeast Atlantic ecoregion and identify operational products/future directions that could improve and/or expand the scientific basis of the EO in future iterations. Identify opportunities for integration with other ICES ABNJ scientific work.
