Report of the Study Group on Regional Scale Ecology of Small Pelagics (SGRESP)

A Study Group on Regional Scale Ecology of Small Pelagics [SGRESP] will be established (Chair: Pierre Petitgas, France) and will meet in Nantes, France, from 23–26 February 2004 to:a) assemble existing data on life history stages (adult, egg, larvae, juvenile) of pelagic fish (horse mackerel, mackerel, sardine, anchovy, herring and sprat) in ICES waters, regionally;b) characterise habitats of life cycle stages (spawning, nursery, feeding grounds), their inter-annual changes, their inter-species overlap;c) review existing relationships with physical and biological environmental indicators;d) produce and deliver assessment Working Groups with integrated environmental and ecological information relevant to the evaluation and prediction processes;e) consider a scientific plan to set up a working group on environmental forcing on small pelagics as well as propose a framework articulating the group with existing LRC groups on surveys methods and fish ecology and ACFM groups on assessment;f) evaluate applicability of GLOBEC/SPACC findings to small pelagic stocks in ICES waters and establish contact between the SG work and GLOBEC/SPACC research.