The Marine Institute is hosting an important annual international meeting at its new headquarters in Galway over the next two weeks. The meeting is a gathering of fisheries experts from the ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Seas) community, and will conduct the analyses which will form the bases for the management of some of the highest value fisheries in the northeast Atlantic. Fisheries on which analyses will be conducted include mackerel and horse mackerel as well as sardine and anchovy.
The mackerel fishery alone is worth over €600 million internationally, and almost €50 million to the Irish economy. The meeting will be attended by 30 delegates from over 16 countries from Russia and the Faroe Islands to Portugal, Chile and South Africa. The meeting is chaired by Irishman Dr. Ciarán Kelly from the Marine Institute.
ENDS
Notes for editor:
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
ICES is the organisation that coordinates and promotes marine research in the North Atlantic. This includes adjacent seas such as the Baltic Sea and North Sea. ICES acts as a meeting point for a community of more than 1600 marine scientists from 19 countries around the North Atlantic.
Scientists working through ICES gather information about the marine ecosystem. As well as filling gaps in existing knowledge, this information is also developed into unbiased, non-political advice. The advice is then used by the 19 member countries, which fund and support ICES, to help them manage the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. The annual budget is 25 million dkk/3.3 million euro.
ICES plans and coordinates marine research through a system of committees, more than 100 working groups, symposia, and an Annual Science Conference. Most meetings take place either at the ICES Headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, or in the member countries.
ICES has been based in Copenhagen, Denmark, since 1902. Today, we have a Secretariat of 38 staff who provide scientific, administrative and secretarial support to the ICES Community of over 1600 marine scientists. http://www.ices.dk
For more information on how scientists assess fish stocks please see: http://www.ices.dk/marineworld/fishbrochureSCREEN.pdf
For further information please contact:
Ciaran Kelly,
Chair of WGMHSA
Marine Institute
+353 91 387200