The 2014 PICES (North Pacific Marine Science Organization) FUTURE Open Science Meeting (OSM) took place 13-18 April on Hawaii's Kohala coast. The event was the latest stage in the programme's decade-long application period (2009-2019), and those involved were charged with gauging the current state of ecosystem research, recognizing the science needed to move on, and drawing up an action plan for FUTURE's final phase.
Covering a spectrum of ecosystem science from North Pacific trends and forecasts through to the communication of knowledge, several OSM sessions, as well as being thematically key for FUTURE, also echoed aspects of the science laid down in ICES Strategic Plan. These included 'Identifying multiple pressures and system responses in North Pacific marine ecosystem', 'Mechanisms of change: Processes behind climate variability', and 'Human dimension indicators of the status of the North Pacific ecosystem'. A workshop on the ecosystem-based management of living marine resources was similarly pertinent.
PICES and ICES are collaborative partners and specific elements of shared science are important to both organizations, with complimentary disciplines – such as ecosystem modeling and stock assessments respectively – enabling the two to team up when it comes to global issues like climate change and the science required at a regional scale.
An Intersessional Science Board meeting also ran 19-20 April as a supplement to the OSM. Here, ICES Head of Science Programme Adi Kellerman gave an update on the latest developments at his organization as well as outline approved symposia for 2015-16, inviting PICES for co-sponsorship.
FUTURE, standing for 'Forecasting and Understanding Trends, Uncertainty and Responses of North Pacific Marine Ecosystems', is designed to build on PICES' previous science programme 'Climate change and Carrying Capacity' (CCCC). The '4 Cs' initiative is another chapter in PICES' body of research on climate change, adding to other strengths that include modeling capacity.
