DYNAMEET: The overall dynamics of the Norwegian Sea pelagic ecosystem - a workshop integrating understanding across projects

The pelagic ecosystem in the Norwegian Sea has undergone considerable change during the last decades. This goes both for the physical environment, where a considerable warming has occurred, and for the biological components, where large fluctuations have been observed in the sizes of the main fish stocks as well as in the biomass of their zooplankton prey. Understanding the dynamics underlying these changes is important not only for the sustainable management of this ecosystem but also for improving our understanding of the pelagic biome in general, which despite being the largest (by volume) on the planet, is still poorly understood. To stimulate the building of this understanding, a workshop will be held with roots in two major projects, the NRC funded research project EcoNorSE (Ecosystem dynamics in the Norwegian Sea - new methods for understanding recent changes) and the ICES group WGINOR (Working Group on the Integrated Assessment of the Norwegian Sea). This will bring together findings from new methods for studies of trophic interactions between the main fish stocks and their prey (EcoNorSe project) and a broad approach including also the physical environment, a wider selection of biological groups and information on fisheries and other types of human impact (WGINOR). The workshop will be organized through three sessions, one focusing on key aspects of the physical environment, another dealing with the direct influence of the physical environment on biological components and a third including information on trophic interactions and a synthesis of our overall understanding of the dynamics of the system. A scoping process will be run among key stakeholders before the workshop to identify questions of particular interest for management. The results will be disseminated to stakeholders and management bodies through publications tailored for these groups and to the wider scientific community through peer-reviewed scientific papers.