MarFish: Causes and consequences of changing marine biodiversity, a fishand fisheries perspective

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.

MarFish is a subproject of the EU Network of Excellence MarBEF (Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning) and contains 19 participating fisheries and marine institutes from the Mediterranean to the Norwegian Sea. The subproject is investigating the causes and consequences of changes in marine fish biodiversity in European seas. Project objectives are: (1) Detect and identify mechanisms of large-scale and long-term change in biodiversity of fish and other exploited species (e. g., scallops, lobsters); (2) Predict consequences of changes in biodiversity of fish and other exploited communities on ecosystem functioning and human societies. The main activities of the project are networking and scientific research. Networking activities include workshops, training courses, development of a fish biodiversity consensus document for policy makers and a web-based mechanism to facilitate foreign student and research participation on fisheries research cruises. Research activities include analyses which quantify changes in intra- and inter-specific fish biodiversity, changes in distribution/ranges of species and changes in functional roles of species within ecosystems. Examples of some of these activities will be presented in the presentation. Additional information is available at http://www.marbef.org/projects/marfish/index.php.