Report of the Working Group on Environmental Interactions of Mariculture (WGEIM)

WGEIM met at the IFM-GEOMAR, Kiel, Germany from 16–20 April. Eight members, from six countries, attended the meeting. Five terms of reference were addressed by the group and are summarised below. ToR A: Members of the WG continued intercessional work on a joint ICES/FAO project, leading to a meeting of GESAMP Working Group 31 at FAO, Rome in November 2006. The outcome of that meeting, and subsequent work, is a draft report for GESAMP prepared through the collaborative efforts of the GESAMP Working Group 31 on Risk Assessment and Communication, and ICES-WGEIM. The title of the report is “Integrated Risk Assessment and Communication For Environmental Interactions of Aquaculture”. In addition to the GESAMP report, WGEIM members have prepared extended drafts of risk analyses of the escapes of cultivated halibut, sea bass, sea bream and turbot (in addition to the cod document included in the FAO report). WGEIM agreed that efforts should now be made to complete these drafts with a view to submitting a package of reports to a journal for publication intercessionally.