ICES has already received a request to help in the
preparation of a workshop 9-10 April in Brussels, where ICES work relevant
to the Descriptors for Biodiversity, Food webs, and Sea floor integrity (three
of the eleven official descriptors of Good Environmental Status) will be
presented. More requests are to come.
This supports ICES strategic wish to back the development
and implementation of the MSFD. To that end ICES last year established a
Council Working Group to support and coordinate ICES MSFD related activities
within focus areas such as indicators, development of assessments tools,
models, integrated monitoring, and integrated ecosystem assessments.
ICES is following and supporting the development in the
Regional Seas Conventions and is for the moment reviewing and assessing a set
of biodiversity indicators developed by Oslo/Paris convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the
North-East Atlantic (OSPAR). Representatives of the Regional Seas
Conventions will be invited to participate in the ICES Council Steering group
in order to further strengthen the coordination and cooperation.
