Objectives, Deliverables, Milestones

Objectives
Examine the patterns of long term change in selected coastal ecosystems and thereby establish targets for the restoration and sustainable use of living marine resources.
1. Identification, validation and assembly of historical data (e.g. biomass, mean size, maturity, fecundity) relating to key aquatic resources in selected large marine ecosystems (LMEs);
2. Collation, analysis and dissemination of the historical data collected and processed in (1);
3. Establish baselines against which the current status of aquatic resources and LMEs can be evaluated and restoration goals can be set.

Description of work
The “Shifting Baselines” workpackage addresses the 'shifting baseline syndrome'. In essence, this problem has emerged as each generation of fisheries and environmental scientists has accepted existing stock size and species composition as the baseline against which temporal changes are measured. However, if stocks are progressively depleted, a shift in the baseline occurs over time. This results in an accommodation of the creeping disappearance of resource species, and the application of inappropriate reference points for the evaluation of economic losses due to overfishing, and the identification of targets for rehabilitation policies.
To resolve this problem, criteria for selecting key aquatic resources (stocks) within particular large marine ecosystems will be developed. Historical data on catch and effort, biomasses, length-frequencies, maximum sizes, size and age at maturity, growth rates, natural mortality, etc. will be assessed, collated and analysed to establish baselines against which the current status and restoration goals of key aquatic resources can be assessed. Likewise, historical data on catch and effort, production, biomasses, predator-prey interactions, flows, and habitat change will be mined, assessed, collated and analysed to establish baselines against which the current status and restoration goals of selected marine ecosystems can be assessed. These data will be disseminated in conjunction with WP 1 and will inform the work of colleagues engaged in WP 3-6.

Deliverables

All WP participants will contribute to all deliverables.

Milestones