Second Interim Report of the Working Group on Integrating Surveys for the Ecosystem Approach (WGISUR)

The meeting of the Working Group on Integrating Surveys for the Ecosystem Approach (WGISUR) took place from 27–29 January 2015 in Copenhagen. The group was attended by 10 people representing nine countries and was chaired by Ingeborg de Boois, Netherlands. Four ICES survey planning groups were represented, and representing a range of different survey types (ecosystem, acoustic, ichthyoplankton, and fish trawl (beam and otter trawl)).Presentations were given on a number of ecosystem surveys, and on adding tasks to current surveys.The group discussed if and how ecosystem monitoring plans could be set up. Although some challenges arise with respect to collaboration (inter)nationally and between expertise fields, these should not block the initiatives for ecosystem monitoring. A holistic monitoring plan will not appear by itself, however, and should be created by a diverse group of people. Lim-iting the spatial and temporal scale of the integrated survey will make the task easier. WGISUR proposes a workshop to create an integrated monitoring survey of the North Sea in the 3rd quarter, beginning by building upon the existing survey objectives and utilizing the currently available survey resources.