Joint DFO/KnowSeas, and ICES Workshop on Quality Assurance in MSP (WKQAMSP)

With the increasing importance of marine spatial planning (MSP) throughout the ICES area and in North America, quality assurance elements of integrated manage-ment, environmental assessment and marine spatial planning were identified and discussed. Workshop members recognized that there is little guidance available to assess the quality of marine spatial planning albeit integrated management and envi-ronmental assessment initiatives. The quality of the advice (e.g. scientific data, model-ling of environmental processes, proposals for of management actions) entering the planning process inevitably affects the quality of the outputs, as well as in the inter-mediate stages of data processing, consultations etc. Members agreed that quality assurance would build quality into the process to ensure that the resulting plan meets the requirements at the onset of the initiative.