Second Interim Report of the Working Group on Integrated Assessments of the North Sea (WGINOSE)

The Working Group on Integrated Assessments of the North Sea (WGINOSE) met in Hamburg, Germany, as guests of the Thünen-Institute of Sea Fisheries and Fishery Ecology from 10–13 March 2015. The meeting was chaired by Andrew Kenny, UK. There were eight participants representing three countries. Due to lack of participation it was not possible to up-date either the ecosystem trends analysis or ecosystem over-view sections.WGINOSE is a working group, which works to develop the science-base for Integrated Ecosystem Assessments (IEA) in the North Sea. The group works towards this goal in cooperation with similar groups within the ICES SCICOM Scientific Steering Group on Integrated Ecosystem Assessment Programme (SSGIEA). Specifically the group aims to provide:1 ) Annual status reporting, through the application of statistical analyses, of the principal activties, pressures and state indicators operating at the sub-regional level of the ecoregion.2 ) Probability based analysis of the inateractions between ‘key‘ components of the greater North Sea subregions using stochastic models, and;3 ) an assessment of the possible outcomes of management actions at the ecosystem level through its contribution to the greater North Sea ecosystem overview.