International Workshop on Multidisciplinary Synergy to Delineate Stocks and Fisheries: Advances and Perspectives, Vigo, Spain 24-26 September 2014

Presentation Letter

The Marine Genetic Resources Laboratory (Rexenmar) from University of Vigo is pleased to announce that there is still room for participants in the international workshop “Multidisciplinary Synergy to Delineate Stocks and Fisheries: Advances and Perspectives” within the Strategic cluster ECIMAT Marine Station-Oceanography (ECIMAT-AEOE) Research Network Program.

The workshop will be held on 24-26 September 2014 at ECIMAT Marine Station in Vigo (Spain) which is placed in one of the most beautiful estuaries of the Galician coast (Ría de Vigo) about 80 km from Santiago de Compostela and 120 km from Porto. The workshop is hosted by Dr. Pablo Presa from the Marine Genetic Resources Laboratory of Vigo University and is subsidised by the ECIMAT-AEOE Association, the Rectorate of Research and Transference from Vigo University, the Vigo City Council and the Faculty of Marine Sciences from Vigo University.

Target audience

The workshop is intended for Senior PhD and Group Leaders in Fishery Sciences as well as for Postdocs and Fishery Managers. Especially welcome are scientists from research disciplines engaged in the definition of Fish Stock, Management units, and Fisheries, such as Fish Biology, Marine Biology and Fishery Management.

Summary

The sustainable management of fishery stocks requires a previous scientific work to define and refine the units of fishery management, in space and in time. The definitions of stock, fishery and management unit are not always equivalent, which leads to inappropriate exploitation policies i.e. overexploitation or sub-exploitation of fishery resources. Although a fishery is defined normatively in political and economic terms, the concepts of stock and management unit are more elusive and depend on the discipline dealing with its definition. Successful rapprochement between management unit and stock would make possible to better structure fisheries and therefore to optimize the exploitation of resources, establishing differential efforts on areas and times of distribution and a better understanding of population dynamics and the trophic interactions with other community biota. This workshop seeks to accommodate the major disciplines engaged in the definition of stock, management unit and fisheries, such as those biological ones, e.g. Ecology, Genetics, Parasitology and Marine Biology, those oceanographic-based ones e.g., Physics, Oceanography, Microchemistry, GIS/TAG and remote sensing, and those management-oriented ones such as Economy, Politics and Assessment. The combinatory of methods we aim to review here and the criteria used by each discipline to define their object of study would allow us to grow towards a synthetic definition of stock, fishery and management unit, to foster synergies among complementary disciplines and to unveil present weaknesses and disclose short-term needs in fishery management worth it to be scientific explored to optimize EU fishing policies.

Goals and workshop structure

The goal of this workshop is to synthesize the advances and perspectives on fishery stock delimitation and to indentify gaps and challenges in our current knowledge from a multidisciplinary approach. Bringing together leading EU scientists in their respective fishery science disciplines we also aim to enhance research initiatives and foster new international projects. The workshop addresses 3 major research fields which will be represented in 3 separate sessions, i.e. Biology, Oceanography and Management. Sessions are introduced by ten invited experts in their respective fields who will sketch the topical framework of each session and deliver a 40 min talk followed by discussion and input from participants on the specific topic addressed. Held in an informal but stimulating scientific atmosphere, with a limited number of participants, we hope that this meeting will provide an excellent opportunity for strong interaction heading to a fruitful specialised publication on the field.

Invited speakers

The following speakers have confirmed their participation:

Prof. Stephen Hawkins, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
Dr. John Casey, European Commission, JRC-Ispra, Italy
Prof. Henrique Cabral, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Dr. Pablo Abaunza Martínez, Spanish Institute of Oceanography, IEO-Santander, Spain
Dr. José María Da Rocha Álvarez, Faculty of Entrepreneurial Studies, University of Vigo, Spain
MSc. Fabio Carocci, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department-FAO, Italy
Dr. Santiago Pascual del Hierro, CSIC-Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas, Vigo, Spain
Dr. Alfonso Pita Bugallo, Faculty of Marine Sciences, University of Vigo, Spain
Dr. Pablo Presa Martínez, Faculty of Marine Sciences, University of Vigo, Spain
Dr. Manuel Ruiz Villarreal, Spanish Institute of Oceanography, IEO-Coruña, Spain

Registration

The workshop is limited to forty participants plus ten speakers who will enhance discussion on each discipline and coordinate cooperative initiatives among participants to work out a special Number of a SCI journal issued from this meeting. The workshop is fully subsidized so participation is free of charge. However, participants have to cover their - travel costs to- and accommodation in- Vigo (organisers will provide transport to the field station and help finding accommodation). Conference drinks, food and the welcome reception are on organisers (co-financing of congress dinner on Thursday 25 will be requested to attendants, ca. 30 €). We recommend that those interested in attending the workshop do register asap since this is on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants are invited to visit the Conference Information section in the meeting webpage, pre-register using the option therein before September 7th, 2014 (please contact Administration Staff in case of failure in the online registration) and confirm their attendance no later than September 17th upon the organisation feedback via email.