Minutes of the meeting of the ICES Advisory Committee (ACOM), March 2024

The advisory Committee of ICES met in plenary in Copenhagen and online from 5 to 8 March 2024. All member countries of ICES were represented (except for the representative from the Russian Federation) and observers from the Faroe Islands and Greenland were also present. ACOM considered a range of issues and proposed actions and took decisions as appropriate.

All members considered the code of ethics, code of conduct, and professional conduct. ACOM discussed the key success and challenges in 2023 including feedback received from advice requestors and stakeholders. The key challenges were around large or unexpected changes in the fisheries advice, resourcing new advice areas such as bycatch and offshore renewable energy for which ICES has roadmaps. ACOM reviewed and prioritised expert recommendations and conclusions including those related to stakeholders (i.e. WKSTIMP, WKAFPA and WKENSURE).

ACOM discussed working procedures and workload issues. Significant time was spent discussing the future of ICES science and advice. A foresight exercise was carried out which will feed into the revised Advisory Plan. There was no consensus on a leadership proposal to introduce a 3 + 3 model for ACOM members, however there was general support for the idea of refreshing the committee by fostering a team approach, whilst maintaining expertise and institutional knowledge. ACOM also agreed to move forward with implementing a more transparent recruitment process for vice-chairs from this year.

Fisheries advice operational issues discussed included new guidelines for mixed-stock advice, rebuilding scenarios, reference points, ensemble models, the recreational fisheries roadmap, benchmarks and mixed fisheries. On the ecosystem services and effects advice the various overviews were discuss as was the ETP species bycatch roadmap, the need for spatial advice, the conservation advice and the Framework for Ecosystem Informed Science and Advice (FEISA). ACOM supported the further development and implementation of the RDBES, TAF and adviceXplorer. The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) was also discussed. The committee made several decisions and identified a large number of follow up actions which are documented in the report.