Working Group on Marine Mammal Population Dynamics and Habitats (WGMMPH)

The meeting was held from 23.27 April 2001 at ICES Headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, with Arne Bjørge (Norway) as Chair. The Chair welcomed the participants to the first meeting of the Working Group on Marine Mammal Population Dynamics and Habitats (WGMMPH) and summarised the meeting schedule. The ICES Environment Adviser, Janet Pawlak, welcomed the Working Group to ICES and the practical arrangements and facilities available at the ICES Secretariat were presented.
The Chair of the Advisory Committee on Ecosystems, Hein Rune Skjoldal, participated in the discussions on Ecological Quality Objectives. Jake Rice, Bob Mohn, and Niels Daan from the Working Group on Ecosystem Effects of Fishing Activities (WGECO) attended the first session of that discussion. The list of WGMMPH participants is attached as Annex 1.
The WGMMPH acknowledges Dr Ailsa Hall and Callan Duck, Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St. Andrews, for providing UK seal data, and Dr Daniel Pike, Scientific Secretary to the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission, for providing information on the northeast Atlantic harvest of marine mammals. Their contributions were essential for developing this report during the Working Group meeting.