Report of the Study Group on Baltic Sea Productivity Issues in support of the BSRP (SGPROD)

The Study Group on Baltic Sea Productivity issues (SGPROD) met January 22–25 in Riga, Latvia. Part of the meeting was organized jointly with the HELCOM MONAS Zooplankton  Expert  Network  (ZEN).  The  meeting  was  attended  by  17  participants  from 8 countries. The  group  updated  the  status  description  of  the  lower  trophic  levels  in  the  Baltic  Proper and the Gulf of Riga for the year 2007 and winter 2007/2008 for the use of the ICES/HELCOM  Working  Group  on  Integrated  Assessments  of  the  Baltic  (WGIAB)  and the Baltic Fisheries Assessment Working Group (WGBFAS). SGPROD  summarized  the  zooplankton  indicators  developed  during  the  Baltic  Sea  Regional Project (BSRP). The analysis showed that in the Baltic Sea, zooplankton indicators can contribute to the prediction of fish stock recruitment.