This week, ICES President Carl O'Brien welcomed delegates from Member Countries near and far to the 113th Annual Statutory Meeting. Delegates gathered at ICES Headquarters in Copenhagen to make key organizational decisions and set the agenda for the coming year.
“This week's annual statutory meeting was my first as ICES President", said O'Brien, “and I was happy to welcome six new delegates - one each from Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Ireland, Finland and Denmark. Council had a compact agenda for its two-day meeting and addressed issues of ICES future funding, maintaining a resilient and diverse community and network, as well as looking ahead to our 125th anniversary in 2027."
New vice-presidents
Foremost amongst the agenda items was the election of two new vice-presidents to the Bureau (the Executive Committee of the Council). This year, delegates elected Riikka Venesjärvi (Finland) and Ciaran Kelly (Ireland) as new vice-presidents.
Riikka Venesjärvi specializes in aquatic sciences and environmental risk assessment and serves as a Research Manager and Research Scientist at the Natural Resources Institute Finland/Luke. With a strong background in interdisciplinary research, Venesjärvi also brings her experience with sustainable natural resource management, ecosystem valuation, marine and fisheries science, ecological impact analysis, and environmental risk assessment to the Bureau.
Ciaran Kelly is Director of the Fisheries Ecosystems Advisory Services (FEAS) at Marine Institute Ireland, which undertakes resource assessments of commercial fish stocks, provides advice and policy support to the Irish government and undertakes research on marine ecosystems, fish stocks and aquaculture. Through his work in Ireland, with ICES, and with other international organizations, he has been involved in advice provision to policy-makers for more than 20 years.
Outgoing vice-presidents, Per Sandberg (Norway) and Þorsteinn Sigurðsson (Iceland), were thanked for their contributions and commitment to ICES.
Looking ahead
The new vice-presidents join the Bureau at a pivotal moment, as the organization prepares for two key overlapping events taking place in 2027: the development of a new ICES Strategy and the celebration of our 125th anniversary.
Delegates discussed both events at the meeting, including a shortlist of delegate priorities for the new ICES Strategy and ideas for promoting the strategy during ICES anniversary year. For the 125th anniversary celebrations, plans are underway to mark the historic milestone with an extraordinary Annual Science Conference and other special events.
Reception at the Spanish ambassador’s residence
Following Council tradition, a reception was hosted by the ambassador of one of our member countries. This year, ICES Spanish delegates Pablo Abaunza and Paz Sampedro hosted the reception together with the Spanish ambassador to Denmark, Salvador Rueda Rabanal.
Delegates and Secretariat staff gathered at the residence of the Spanish ambassador to celebrate the international spirit and collaborative principles that have underpinned ICES for more than 120 years.
