The 6th EA Workshop on Ecosystem Approach Guidelines and Integrated Ecosystem Assessment, co-sponsored by the Joint Ecosystem Approach Expert Group (PAME, AMAP, CAFF, SDWG) and the ICES was held 9-11 january 2018 in Seattle, WA, USA.

Program, background documents and registration:

• Workshop program here
• Background document here

• Registration list  (8. Jan 2018)

Workshop objectives:
1. Scope and start work on development of guidelines for Ecosystem Approach to management (EA) in the Arctic.
2. Review status of work on developing and doing Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) to develop best practices for Arctic IEA.

Background: The Joint (PAME, AMAP, CAFF, SDWG) Ecosystem Approach expert group (EA-EG) has held 5 workshops in 2011-2015 on various aspects of development of EA to the management of Arctic marine ecosystems. A first International Conference on EA implementation in the Arctic was held in Fairbanks, Alaska, in August 2016.

The Joint EA-EG prepared a report on ‘Status of Implementation of the Ecosystem Approach to Management in the Arctic’ (download here) that was delivered through PAME to Senior Arctic Officials and Ministers. In the Fairbanks Declaration from the Ministerial meeting in May 2016, the ministers reaffirmed the need for an ecosystem approach to management in the Arctic, and encouraged future efforts to develop practical guidelines for implementing an ecosystem approach. The Joint EA-EG has developed a framework with six elements for implementing the EA in the Arctic.

The first element is to identify (geographically) the ecosystem to be managed, and this has been done through delineation of the Arctic marine environment into 18 Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs-download here). Another key element of the framework is Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA), which is the step where the overall conditions and status of the ecosystem are assessed, including impacts (singular and cumulative) of human activities which take place or are planned in the given ecosystem.Carrying out an IEA is scientifically demanding, but is nevertheless essential for effective EA implementation.

The work at the 6th EA workshop will focus on two related subjects:

• Development of EA guidelines, as requested by the Arctic Council ministers¹, and
• share and summarize information and experiences with integrated assessments of ecosystem status as a step toward developing best practices for Arctic IEA, for measuring trends and pressures for coastal and marine areas (which is a follow-up of EBM recommendation 3.5 from Kiruna in 2013).

The 6th EA workshop is co-sponsored by the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES), which has established regional working groups for doing IEAs, e.g. for the Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea LMEs, including one group jointly with PAME and PICES for the Central Arctic Ocean (WGICA). Within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the USA, there is a program for IEA which is also supporting the planning and conduct of the workshop. The planning group for the workshop will prepare a background document that will be circulated to participants prior to the workshop in January. The background document will provide more information and guidance for the work to be carried out at the workshop.

¹ Fairbanks Declaration (2017), paragraph 32: Reaffirm the need for an ecosystem approach to management in the Arctic, welcome the Status of Implementation of the Ecosystem Approach to Management in the Arctic Report, and encourage future efforts to develop practical guidelines for implementing an ecosystem approach.

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Presentations:

Session 1: Definitions, concepts and EA framework

• The EA framework and how Arctic Council Working Groups can contribute to EA (Libby Logerwell and Hein Rune Skjoldal)
• Indigenous Knowledge perspective on EA (Raychelle Daniel)
• ICES perspective on Operationalizing EA (Mark Dickey-Collas)
• NPFMC perspective on EA (Bill Tweit, NPFMC)

Session 2: Guidelines for EA implementation in the Arctic (breakout groups)

• No presentations

Session 3: Practical experience with IEA
Session 3A - ICES work and experiences in IEA

• IEA in ICES: approaches and experiences (Mette Mauritzen)
• IEA of the Barents Sea LME – WGIBAR (Elena Eriksen)
• IEA of the Central Arctic Ocean - WGICA (John Bengtson, Hein Rune Skjoldal)
• IEA of the NW Atlantic - WGNARS (Rebecca Shuford)

Session 3B – NOAA IEA program

• IEA in Alaska (joint PDF)
  • Eastern Bering Sea (Kirstin Holsman)
  • Gulf of Alaska (Jamal Moss)
• IEA in California Current (Chris Harvey)
• Ecosystem Status Reports/ Ecosystem Considerations (Stephani Zador AFSC)
• Traditonal Knowledge and Co-managment (TBC)
• Local and Traditonal Knowledge (Harry Brower)
• Non-market Valuation (Dan Lew, AFSC)
• Human Dimensions (Steve Kasperski, AFSC)
• Risk Assessment (Jameal Samhouri, NWFSC)

Session 3C – Experiences from IEA work in the Arctic Council and other jurisdictional frameworks 

• CAFF: Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP) and State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity report (SAMBR) (John Bengtson)
• SDWG: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) project under Finnish Chairmanship (Hermanni Kaartokallio)
• OSPAR: Intermediate Assessment 2017 (Charlotte Mogensen)
• HELCOM Holistic Assessment II (Hermanni Kaartokallio)
• The Canadian Beaufort Sea: An example of Collaboration (Jerry Inglangasuk and Leah Brown)
• Perspectives and examples of Ecosystem Approach to management from the North Slope Borough (Nicole Kanayurak)