Interim Report of the Working Group on Ecosystem Assessment of Western European Shelf Seas (WGEAWESS)

The ICES Working Group on Ecosystem Assessment of Western European Shelf Seas (WGEAWESS) meeting was held in Lisbon (Portugal), on 24–28 April 2017. The meet-ing was attended by 8 participants from 4 countries and chaired by Steven Beggs, Northern Ireland (UK). This was the first year of the new 3-year Terms of Reference (ToR) for WGEAWESS. The main activities for the group at the 2017 meeting were to discuss progress and further development of work towards the ToRs a) Continue metadata compilation for all ecosystem components available for IEA development, b) Continue evaluation of data and trends for a regional Integrated Ecosystem Assess-ment (IEA). Identify ecosystem trends relevant to stock assessment and management.As an outcome of specific objectives to integrate the activities of WGEAWESS with sis-ter IEA groups, the meeting was held back to back with both the ICES/HELCOM Work-ing Group on Integrated Assessments of the Baltic Sea (WGIAB) and the Working Group on Comparative Analyses between European Atlantic and Mediterranean ma-rine ecosystems to move towards an Ecosystem-based Approach to Fisheries (WGCOMEDA). This back to back meeting had many advantages and provided much opportunity for group integration and future collaboration.