PICES and NOWPAP have been cooperating on joint capacity building activities involving monitoring and assessment of harmful algal blooms and invasive species, and other stressors in coastal zone ecosystems. PICES has co-sponsored two training courses with NOWPAP since 2011.
Three training courses were taught by members of the Section on the Ecology of Harmful Algal Blooms in the North Pacific (S-HAB) to build capacity with local scientists working on the prevention of impacts of harmful aquatic organisms on fisheries and ecosystems. It was one of two sub-projects under a 5-year PICES/MAFF project on the “Development of the prevention systems for harmful organisms’ expansion in the Pacific Rim”.
Three demonstration workshops were given by members of Working Group 21 on Non-indigenous Aquatic Species as part of the PICES/MAFF project on the “Development of the prevention systems for harmful organisms’ expansion in the Pacific Rim”. The aim was to increase awareness about marine and estuarine NIS and to provide hands-on experience for participants, especially from countries in economic transition.
The workshop was held at the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) in Busan, Korea. The workshop was co-sponsored by NFRDI, PICES and the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. Dr. Bernard A. Megrey (U.S.A.) delivered a series of lectures to 32 students from Pukyong National University, Seoul National University, NFRDI-Marine Environmental Lab-Pusan, NFRDI-South Sea Lab-Yeosu and NFRDI-Jeju Island. Drs. Megrey (U.S.A.) and Jae Bong Lee (Korea) coordinated the project.
The workshop was held at the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste (CIBNOR) laboratory, La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico. The workshop focused on general methods to simulate ecosystem mechanisms and processes, and specifically covered in detail the NEMURO lower trophic level ecosystem model process equations and the NEMURO extension called NEMURO.FISH, which links tropho-dynamically lower trophic-level zooplankton abundance to upper trophic-level fisheries bioenergetics and population dynamics models. The summary of this workshop was published in PICES Press (Vol. 15, No. 2).