ICES/GLOBEC workshop on long-term variability in southwestern Europe

The Workshop on Long‐term Variability in Southwestern Europe (WKLTVSWE) was held in Lisbon, Portugal from 13 to 16 February 2007, a joint effort of ICES and GLOBEC and endorsed by EUR‐OCEANS (http://www.eur‐oceans.org). In 1997, GLOBEC’s SPACC (Small Pelagic Fish and Climate Change) initiative held a joint meeting with SCOR Working Group 98 on worldwide, large‐scale fluctuations in sardine (Sardinops sagax) and anchovy (Engraulis spp.) populations (Schwartzlose et al., 1999). It was decided then to continue this “global” undertaking with a series of regional workshops. Previous meetings had focused on the Benguela Current in 2001 (Cury and Shannon, 2004), the Humboldt Current in 2002 (Alheit and Niquen, 2004), and Japanese waters in 2003. During the 2005 annual meeting of the former ICES Study Group on Regional Ecology of Small Pelagics (SGRESP) – subsequently ICES/GLOBEC Working Group on Life Cycle and Ecology of Small Pelagic Fish (WGLESP) – it was recommended that this series of workshops be continued with a meeting focusing on the waters surrounding the Iberian Peninsula, including the western Mediterranean Sea.