Working Group on the Integrated Assessments of the Norwegian Sea (WGINOR, outputs from 2022 meeting)

The ICES Working Group on integrated assessments for the Norwegian Sea (WGINOR) synthe-sizes and evaluates information on physical, chemical, ecological, human, and environmental processes affecting the Norwegian Sea ecosystem. For this purpose, it gathers information, per-forms data analyses, and interacts with stakeholders. Based on these, WGINOR develops and produces an annual ecosystem status summary and assembles a knowledge base that supports the Norwegian Sea Ecosystem Overview.

In 2022, WGINOR reports that 1) while the extent of Arctic Water is increasing, the temperature of the Atlantic inflow has been close to the long-term mean, 2) the annual primary production remains stable, but the seasonal timing of peak production is gradually shifting to a later date, 3) zooplankton spring biomass, measured since 1995, declined in the mid-2000s and has since remained relatively stable, 4) Norwegian spring-spawning herring and mackerel mature bio-masses declined slightly in 2022. After a few years of decline, the biomass of mature blue whiting increased, driven by historically high recruitment, 5) breeding numbers for Atlantic puffin and black-legged kittiwake continue to decline and common guillemot remains at high risk of extinc-tion, 6) seals pup production is declining or at low levels and baleen whales’ distribution has gradually moved from the Norwegian Sea and towards the Barents Sea.

WGINOR is gradually implementing standardized data analysis procedures. For the first time, some of these analyses are implemented in the ICES Transparent Assessment Framework (TAF). WGINOR is also developing a set of geographical polygons to report the results of regional anal-yses in a standardized manner.

In 2022, WGINOR invited stakeholders from Norwegian organizations to further develop the dialogue between WGINOR scientists and the end-users of WGINOR work.

Additional scientific highlights from the group include research on oceanographic conditions in the Icelandic Sea and its impact on the climate of the Norwegian Sea, quantification of mackerel migration patterns using PIT-tags, emerging dynamics of the hake fishery, and diet analyses of small pelagic fish.