PICES-2023 occurs just a few years into the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and is a chance to assess PICES progress to date and set a path for the rest of the Decade. The meeting will focus on developing and strengthening PICES diverse partnerships, building on existing joint activities and promoting cross-fertilization. Priorities for PICES within the Decade focus on climate change, fisheries and ecosystem-based management, social, ecological and environmental dynamics of marine systems, coastal communities, traditional ecological knowledge and human dimensions. Opportunities to engage new partners, especially around the cross-cutting themes of Early Career Ocean Professionals, diverse communities, and engaging with local and Indigenous communities are especially encouraged.

Marine science is entering the big data era where deep learning will have an increasingly far-reaching impact. The combination of deep learning and unprecedented amounts of data generated from different instruments and modeling platforms will enable scientists to address complex issues in biology, ecosystem science, climate, as well as physical and chemical interactions. Although deep learning has made great strides, it is still only beginning to emerge in many fields of marine science, especially towards representative applications and best practices.

The cutting-edge techniques of deep learning in marine science mainly utilize Convolutional Neural Networks and Transformers for applications in underwater vision, such as plankton classification and coral reef detection. These techniques leverage the data collected by in situ optical or acoustic imaging sensors a. Our session seeks contributions that provide examples of applications of deep learning across marine science. Our goal is to share state-of-the-art science that serves to facilitate the convergence of deep learning and marine science and improve our ability to analyze heterogeneous and multi-source oceanographic data.

Populations of small pelagic fish are valuable resources for human communities around the Pacific Rim and an important forage base for higher predators in marine food webs. Describing the relationship between patterns of decadal scale ocean-atmosphere variability and these important fish populations has been a long-standing goal of the scientific community. Oceanographic conditions in recent years, however, have been marked by some notable “extreme events” that exhibited characteristics that differ from the lower-frequency patterns of change previously investigated. Coastal marine heatwaves, hypoxia, harmful algal blooms, and other types of episodic events can have severe socioeconomic consequences and have become the target of ecosystem prediction efforts. To improve our understanding of the mechanisms through which extreme climate events can influence important coastal resources, we invite presentations that investigate the responses of small pelagic fish populations to extreme conditions. Topics might include ecological responses to intense, episodic events in comparison to lower-frequency patterns of change; shifts in population distributions and habitat compression; change in prey or predator abundance; and impacts on coastal fisheries and human communities.

Climate drivers have and continue to strongly influence the physical and biogeochemical properties of ocean surface waters, and these effects become magnified during extreme events. Coastal regions are particularly sensitive to extreme events. In addition to being affected by the onshore movement of anomalous oceanic water, coastal regions are subject to rapid fluctuations in precipitation-driven runoff as well as mixing associated with nearshore wind patterns. The increasing occurrence of extreme change in nearshore waters can intensely influence nutrient supply, dramatically altering ocean ecology in ways that can cause extensive socioeconomic stress. The outcomes of these integrated processes vary widely given the complexity of drivers, magnitudes and dynamics of change, making it difficult to proactively identify problems in time to take steps towards mitigation. Nevertheless, better understanding of past extreme events, and the nature of associated ecological and socioeconomic impacts, will provide the foundation for developing prediction and response strategies. This topic session will help to inform the Working Group 49: Climate Extremes and Coastal Impacts in the Pacific by helping to develop a census of historical climate extreme events around the Pacific Rim to describe their characteristics, identify potential climate and ocean drivers, and catalog the ecological and socioeconomic consequences (ToR#1). The session also addresses the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development goal towards developing a common framework for improving conditions for sustainable development of the Ocean. We welcome papers that address the oceanographic, ecological, and socioeconomic outcomes associated with extreme events in coastal oceans and particularly encourage papers that seek linkages among two or more of these aspects that help to illustrate the underpinnings of ecological and socioeconomic responses to extreme events.

Oceanic processes exhibit distinct characteristics on different temporal and spatial scales, spanning from chaotic turbulence, intense internal waves, complex fronts and filaments to energetic mesoscale eddies and basin-wide circulations. The unique properties of different processes impact the distribution, transport, and conversion of various biogeochemical tracers as well as the microscopic marine organisms that form the base of the marine food web. In recent decades, many studies have been devoted to this interdisciplinary field, especially focusing on the oceanic meso- and submeso-scales, but there are still knowledge gaps in understanding how these multi-scale oceanic processes configure marine ecosystems, i.e., building the connection between the physical environment and sustainable use of the marine resources, which is in alignment with the UN Decade’s SDG 14. We invite general studies providing new insights on multi-scale physical processes, scale interactions, and their impacts on the marine ecosystem. Biogeochemical studies related to the physics are also strongly encouraged in this session.

Non-indigenous species (NIS) can cause ecological and economic damage to coastal marine ecosystems and are a threat to biodiversity, ecosystem services, and the livelihood of coastal communities around the North Pacific. The spread of marine NIS has increased in the last decade due to globalization and other related human activities and climate change. This has sparked an increased awareness about the threats NIS pose and the need for better management and policy to mitigate their impacts, especially in already stressed coastal environments. Once such example is the spread of European Green Crab (Carcinus maenas) along the west coast of North America where management efforts have recently ramped up. Further, it was quickly realized that management needed to be coordinated and inclusive, especially over large spatial scales. Similarly, despite considerable species-specific knowledge, many scientific gaps were identified (from monitoring and early detection to control and eradication) and successful management interventions were only possible via collaborative networks including agencies, Indigenous groups, and a variety of stakeholders. This topic session will explore the complexities of managing NIS from different perspectives and will not be limited to only Green Crab. The goal is to share experiences around successes and challenges of managing marine NIS, especially those that span different spatial scales or jurisdictions, and how these challenges were resolved or not. This will allow generalizations that will be helpful for PICES member countries managing marine NIS.

Ocean acidification and deoxygenation are well documented in open ocean waters, but also affect ocean margins including coastal waters. The causes of these changes, however, are far more complex than in open ocean waters. Interaction of open ocean waters and coastal waters along ocean margins creates further complex variations, most of which have not been well documented by current ocean monitoring. Responses of ocean margin ecosystems to acidification and deoxygenation can also be different from the open ocean because species in ocean margin ecosystems are adapted to a wide range of natural pH/oxygen variation. Complex water-mass dynamics along ocean margins can also generate locally-specific pH/oxygen environments, that can either act as refuges or as areas of enhanced impact. This session aims to gather information on observed or projected changes in pH and oxygen concentration on ocean margins including coastal areas, its causes and interaction with the open ocean, biological responses, and consequences to fisheries.

United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) make "Clean Ocean" one of its priority development areas, which includes identifying, quantifying and reducing pollution sources and removing pollutants from the ocean. The Session on the Occurrence and Ecological Impact of Emerging Pollutants (Persistent Toxic Substance, Resistance Gene and Marine Debris, et al.) in the Coastal Marine Environment has the following 2 objectives: First, to review the situation and to discuss the information gap and deficiencies in occurrence and evaluation on the emerging pollutants and its impact on marine ecosystem in the North Pacific. Second, to exchange the new technique and methodology for monitoring and assessment of emerging pollutants, and to discuss the development trends and research priorities. The main topics of the Session include the following: (1) The current situation of emerging pollutants on marine ecosystems in North Pacific. (2) The new technique for the analysis of emerging pollutants in marine environment. (3) The assessment on the ecological impact of emerging pollutants. The Session will invite experts in the relevant field, and welcome the reports on the research and progress in the above topics.

Everyone loves photos of the big fish that didn’t get away. However, warming oceans often mean that young fish grow more quickly but reach smaller adult sizes. This equates to a loss of yield in commercial fisheries. Scientists are working together to assess the magnitude of the shrinking fish problem in different regions and determine what this means for sustainable fisheries management now and in the future. Warming seas can affect fish body sizes, with major implications for size-structured marine ecosystems, species interactions and fisheries productivity. Synchronous shifts toward smaller adult body sizes in marine fish have already been detected in several rapidly warming areas. Yet, the mechanisms underpinning the temperature size rule (TSR; higher temperatures result in smaller body sizes) remain debated and most fisheries models do not routinely account for the expected temperature-dependent trends in growth. Understanding the impacts of temperature-driven changes in body size on reproduction and maturity is critical if we want to predict shifts in stock productivity. Novel monitoring programs are needed to provide managers with the appropriate information to detect and quantify any body size change that is occurring. Lastly, fisheries management plans need to adequately account for the implications of shifting fish body sizes and ensure harvest strategies are flexible enough to ensure stock productivity in a rapidly changing world. We propose a session that will: 1) synthesise ecological and empirical knowledge about trends in fish and other ectotherms' growth rates and body sizes, and how this can be incorporated into monitoring programs; 2) explore the utility of new assessment models that allow for time-varying and environmentally driven trait parameters 3) assess the potential impacts of temperature-induced body size change on fisheries yields in the future ocean 4) Discuss management options to addressing the impacts of rapid temperature-induced changes in stock productivity.

Forage species serve an important intermediate trophic role in marine ecosystems, yet an understanding of how they drive trophodynamics in the North Pacific remains poorly known. The species composition, condition, and availability of forage species to predators can be sensitive to physical and biological changes and variable production at lower trophic levels. Forage populations are prone to large variations in production, which can affect their availability to predators. North Pacific forage species include both commercially and non-commercially exploited taxa including small pelagic fishes (e.g. herring, sardines, anchovies, smelts, and sand lance), early life stages of groundfish, salmon, and crabs, mesopelagic fishes, and other important invertebrates (e.g. squids, euphausiids). In marine ecosystems where the most abundant forage species are unexploited taxa or life stages, detecting changes in species composition, abundance, and distribution is often particularly challenging due to a lack of directed monitoring, and may have profound ecological and socio-economic impacts at the ecosystem level. An improved understanding of how changes in the abundance and distribution of unexploited forage species impacts exploited species and other predators is critical for commercial interests, as well as for economic and food security of Indigenous and coastal communities in the North Pacific. This session welcomes contributions focused on: 1. Improvements in monitoring and data synthesis of forage species – particularly unexploited taxa and life stages – such as integrating multiple data sources (surveys, predator diets), gear modifications for improved retention of forage species, advances in monitoring tools (biogeochemical and genetic analyses, autonomous vehicles), and inclusion of traditional or local ecological knowledge; 2. Describing changes in forage communities and impacts on predators; 3. Advances in knowledge about interspecific interactions and bottom-up and top-down processes that affect forage species used to inform ecosystem-based fisheries management or reduce uncertainties in stock assessments and population forecasts of exploited species.

Measurements and models tell us that Earth's climate is changing rapidly, yet the rates of change in warming as well as spatial shifts in isotherms (i.e., the “velocity of climate change”), vary among ecosystems of the North Pacific. Species responses to climate change vary in relation to life-history traits including foraging and migration ecology, which determine adaptive capacities (e.g., abilities to shift location or prey switch with changes in habitat). While there have been many species-specific assessments of responses relative to observational and predicted ocean change, the impact of climate change on complex ecological relationships (e.g., predator-prey dynamics) and ecosystem structure and connectivity is not well understood. Moreover, recent research has suggested that maintaining healthy top predator populations may help mitigate the effects of climate change on ecosystem functions. Therefore, for this session, we solicit interdisciplinary studies on observed or predicted climate change and responses of predatory fish, marine birds, and mammals. We will focus on how climate change is affecting the North Pacific’s top marine consumers directly or indirectly through trophic interactions (for example, how metabolic changes in predatory fish may be making them more of less susceptible to changes in food resource availability). Transdisciplinary modeling and observational studies are encouraged.

Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) is a key ecosystem-based fishery management component required to be described and identified in all fishery management plans. As habitat degradations often lead to declines in overall abundance and diversity of living marine resources (LMRs), one of the main areas of emphasis in current ecological research is the delineation and refinement of EFH toward higher levels of detail, from presence-absence of certain species (Level 1; the lowest) to production and vital rates by habitat (Level 4; the highest). The central and tropical Pacific regions contain commercially and recreationally important bottom fishes (e.g., snappers, groupers), pelagic fishes (e.g., billfish), crustaceans, and coral reef-associated taxa. Field research and in situ data collection efforts are often limited due to the region's vast size and small-scale spatial complexity. This paucity of data, particularly relating to spatio-temporal trends of LMRs, is effectively hindering the delineations of EFH beyond species presence and density (Levels 1 & 2). This session invites presentations highlighting approaches to inform EFH delineations, specifically in regard to fish density, growth and reproductive dynamics, and habitat-specific production rates in a data-limited environment. We particularly welcome types of research that 1) use quantitative and statistical approaches to generate relative abundance maps using multiple data sources, 2) support tactical EFH relevant decision-making and longer-term strategies (e.g., harvest control rules, marine protected areas), 3) evaluate the robustness of methods that forecast changes in LMR productivity and distribution, and 4) attempt to integrate environmentally heterogeneous habitats, species domains, and species' interactions into understanding EFH-relevant processes (e.g., density, reproduction, and productivity) at multiple scales. We encourage both application case studies and theoretical and integrated modeling approaches to improve EFH delineations.

Understanding the environmental drivers of fish recruitment has been a major area of research for more than a century. In an era of non-stationary ocean conditions, quantifying these relationships is essential for robust management of fish populations. Recently, a number of studies have demonstrated that fish recruitment can be forecasted over short periods of time using covariates related to larval densities, data from similar species, and/or raw or derived environmental time-series. A variety of emerging computational methods have also been used to improve forecasts and assess their skill, including linear, non-linear and non-parametric approaches. While the forecasting skill of these methods can be surprisingly high, the path towards using these forecasts within traditional fisheries stock assessments remains unclear. Challenges include dealing with large numbers of possible environmental drivers, non-stationary relationships, complex estimation models that already integrate many data sources, incorporating non-parametric methods into stock assessment’s likelihood-based framework, and the sometimes weak relationships between single drivers and recruitment.

We propose a topic session bringing together international experts from fisheries and management organizations in PICES member nations and beyond to focus on approaches and the utility of forecasting recruitment in a management setting. The session will include two components, with session (A) focused on current approaches, best practices, and challenges for forecasting fisheries recruitment and session (B) focusing on using forecasting approaches in an assessment model or management setting. Each session will consist of 5-6 speakers (2.5 hours) and will end with an invited panel discussion. Each panelist will kick off the session with a 3-5 minute lightning talk, reacting to topics covered in the session and / or discussing provocative ideas for future work.

There are tens of thousands of seamounts worldwide and their abundance is greatest in the North Pacific Ocean. The ecology of only a few has been studied, in part because of how deep and remote most seamounts are. The difficulty in studying the ecology of seamounts means that they are poorly understood habitats in terms of the pelagic, demersal, and benthic species that they support. These are unique habitats for deep-sea organisms and many seamounts are biodiversity hotspots with relatively high rates of endemism. They can host diverse communities of benthic filter feeders, including corals and sponges. Some dense communities of biogenic organisms on seamounts are recognized as vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs), in part because they can support high biodiversity and provide critical habitats for socioeconomically important fishes and invertebrates that attract commercial fishing and other anthropogenic activities. The biodiversity of fishes is high on seamounts; almost 800 species of fish have been recorded from seamounts, representing half of the orders of fishes. As such, seamounts are important sources of food. New and readily available data can be integrated to better understand factors that influence the distribution and trends in seamount biodiversity, including those related to oceanic fronts and eddies and to future climate-change scenarios. This proposed topic session will focus on improving our understanding of seamount biodiversity and exchanging ideas on methods to identify VMEs and areas likely to be VMEs. As such, it will lay the foundation for WG-47’s activities to identify potential indicators for assessing and monitoring the biodiversity of pelagic, demersal, and benthic taxa associated with seamounts.

The Biological Oceanography Committee (BIO) has a wide range of interests spanning from molecular to global scales. BIO targets all organisms living in the marine environment including bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton, micronekton, benthos and marine birds and mammals. In this session, we welcome all papers on biological aspects of marine science in the PICES region. Contributions from early career scientists are especially encouraged.

Email BIO Paper Session Convenors

This session invites papers addressing general topics in fishery science and fisheries oceanography in the North Pacific and its marginal seas, except those covered by Topic Sessions sponsored by the Fishery Science Committee (FIS).

Email FIS Paper Session Convenors

This session invites papers addressing the promotion, coordination, integration and synthesis of research activities related to the contribution of the social sciences to marine science, and to facilitate discussion among researchers from both the natural and social sciences. We invite abstract submissions on any of these topics.

Email HD Paper Session Convenors

Papers are invited on all aspects of marine environmental quality research in the North Pacific and its marginal seas, except those covered by Topic Sessions sponsored by the Marine Environmental Quality Committee (MEQ).

Email MEQ Paper Session Convenors

Papers are invited on all aspects of physical oceanography and climate in the North Pacific and its marginal seas, except those covered by Topic Sessions sponsored by the Physical Oceanography and Climate Committee (POC).

Email POC Paper Session Convenors

In 1923, the Convention for the Preservation of the Halibut Fishery of the Northern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea was signed by Canada and the United States of America (U.S.A) in response to conservation needs. The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC), initially named the International Fisheries Commission, was established as an intergovernmental organisation by this Convention that came into effect on 21 October 1924, constituting the first international agreement for joint management of a marine resource. Therefore, for the last 100 years, the IPHC has been successfully managing the Pacific halibut resource for Canada and the U.S.A. through the application of rigorous science, innovation, and the implementation of international best practice. This session is intended to celebrate the first 100 years of the IPHC by highlighting past and current scientific activities that have supported the management of the Pacific halibut fishery in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean.

W1 will accept abstracts ONLY from those submitters who were invited by the W1 Convenors. All other abstracts will NOT be considered.

Fact sheets, which are similar to Pamphlets, are an effective communication tool that can be used to describe the accomplishments and future plans of PICES Expert Groups in a clear and concise format. Preparation of these would provide an excellent opportunity to deliver an outstanding first impression, educate community members and target audiences and increase organizational recognition about the value and relevance of scientific work being conducted under PICES. Moreover, creating fact sheets will challenge PICES scientists to analyze the goals and objectives of their Expert Groups, and to efficiently describe their achievements concisely and clearly. With informative fact sheets, the interest in PICES Expert Groups will be aroused and end users will understand the key ideas and achievements of the Expert Groups, providing opportunities to promote and celebrate the science being conducted by PICES. It will also provide a simple way to communicate PICES science to potential collaborators and aid them in identifying with which Expert Groups they are most closely aligned, while at the same time sparking interest and encouraging them to ask for more information.

The proposed workshop builds upon the 2-day Science Communications workshop at PICES 2022 that had the primary goal of developing videos that describe the accomplishments, needs, and future plans of PICES Expert Groups. An expert writing coach and a visual layout expert will provide instruction to PICES members on:

• Strategic design of unique fact sheets
• Creating compelling headlines to highlight the value of your PICES work
• Honing your result statements to a few key short bullet-points
• Including and selecting testimonials about your work
• Leverage visual information design and aesthetics to attract audiences, clarify the value of your work; spread your message, provide recommendations that can help decision-makers make informed decisions about our marine ecosystems
• Communicate effectively to an international audience.

The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (UNDOS; 2021-2030) addresses challenges associated with ecosystem health, food security, and climate change through international Programmes, Projects and Activities. PICES, in partnership with ICES, leads the UNDOS-endorsed Programme called ‘SUSTAINABILITY OF MARINE ECOSYSTEMS THROUGH GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE NETWORKS’ (SmartNet), which aims to leverage ICES and PICES infrastructure and long-term collaborations to advance global marine ecosystem research and sustainability. Related UNDOS-endorsed Programmes include SUPREME (advance ocean forecasts and projections to guide climate-informed resource management); FishSCORE (sustain fisheries, protect ocean ecosystems, and enhance equitable benefits); Marine Life 2030 (coordination to deliver actionable knowledge of ocean life and ecosystem restoration); and ECOP (empower early career ocean professionals and incorporate new thinking into ocean sustainability and stewardship). We propose a 2-day hybrid topic session and workshop to share knowledge and capacity amongst UNDOS programs, to establish collaborative networks to advance UNDOS goals, and to co-design transformative actions. On the first day, oral and poster presentations will highlight recent science advances within the climate-fisheries nexus, including developments in climate and marine ecosystem predictability and social-ecological-environmental systems. On the second day, participants will engage in open discussion to identify opportunities for developing scientific products for societal benefit and sharing capacity with developing nations. We encourage participation from those not currently associated with an UNDOS action, and especially from early career ocean professionals.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a ubiquitous problem that affect marine and estuarine waters around the world. Advances in our understanding of bloom dynamics, improved HAB detection, and increased monitoring in many regions have enabled explorations of promising approaches to prevent and mitigate coastal blooms at multiple geographical scales. However, only a few approaches are available and most have not been fully tested for cost effectiveness and unintended environmental impacts. Therefore, effective and scalable marine and estuarine HAB control remains an elusive goal for many global regions. For example, spraying clay from ships has been used as a physical mechanism to control active Margalefidinium (Cochlodinium) blooms in Korea, as well as Phaeocystis, Aureococcus and other HAB species in China, and the use of naturally occurring bacteria or their exudates is being explored as a biological/chemical method to control raphidophyte blooms and some dinoflagellates in the United States. Some other examples of control include the use of oxidizing agents such as peroxide, percarbonate, ozone, and UV irradiation, as well as direct biomass removal, water column mixing, native seagrass or macroalgal planting, barley straw application, and direct application of algaecides, mostly in smaller-scale freshwater systems.

The societal desire to have access to a greater variety of safe and effective bloom control options has become more urgent given the continued development of coastal regions for aquaculture, tourism, and other uses that are impacted by HABs. An international workshop to explore approaches to HAB control in marine and estuarine waters will stimulate an international dialogue, foster in situ experimentation, and support assessments of social, economic and environmental costs and benefits of various approaches. A discussion of different strategies for navigating environmental compliance will highlight the processes used in different countries to overcome the complexities of rules and regulations and may highlight ways that national regulatory policies could be adjusted to quicken the pace of developing safe and effective HAB control approaches.

The workshop will specifically focus on HAB control mechanisms that have been tested in the field, and not prevention or mitigation. The following definitions are provided for clarification. Control efforts focus on the organisms themselves, either killing them or removing cells and/or toxins from the water. An example is the use of clay spray to control fish-killing HABs. Prevention approaches focus on stopping blooms from occurring or minimizing and limiting their extent. An example is reducing nutrient inputs to water bodies to reduce HAB growth. Mitigation focuses on relieving the impacts of blooms. Examples of mitigation are the use of phytoplankton monitoring and forecasts to provide early warning of HABs. Early warning allows multiple actions to minimize the impacts, such as closure of shellfish harvesting before they become too toxic for human consumption or identifying whether red tide conditions are expected to be present on particular beaches.

The international workshop will engage participants with expertise in research, development, and implementation of promising estuarine and marine HAB control approaches. We encourage the participation of early career ocean professionals and scientists from under-represented communities. Participants will discuss technical, environmental compliance and public perception challenges and explore solutions to these common barriers. In depth discussions of existing control methods and strategies used in different regions/countries will be fostered. The workshop findings will summarize the worldwide approaches in HAB control as a scientific report or as a collection of papers in a special issue of Harmful Algae.

However, only a few approaches are available and therefore effective and scalable marine and estuarine HAB control remains an elusive goal for many global regions. For example, spraying of clay from ships has been used as a physical mechanism to control active Margalefidinium (Cochlodinium) blooms in Korea, as well as Phaeocystis, Aureococcus and other HAB species in China, and the use of naturally-occurring bacteria or their exudates is being explored as a chemical method to control raphidophyte blooms and some dinoflagellates. Some other examples of control include the use of oxidizing agents such as peroxide, percarbonate, ozone, and UV irradiation, as well as direct biomass removal, water column mixing, native seagrass or macroalgal planting, barley straw application, direct application of algicides.

The societal desire to have access to a greater variety of safe and effective bloom control options has become more urgent given the continued development of coastal regions for aquaculture, tourism, and other uses that are impacted by HABs. An international workshop to explore approaches to HAB control in marine and estuarine waters will stimulate an international dialogue, foster in situ experimentation, and support assessments of social, economic and environmental costs and benefits of various approaches. A discussion of different strategies for navigating environmental compliance will highlight the processes used in different countries to overcome the complexities of rules and regulations and may highlight ways that national regulatory policies could be adjusted to quicken the pace of developing safe and effective HAB control approaches.

The workshop will specifically focus on HAB control mechanisms, and not prevention or mitigation. The following definitions are provided for clarification. Control efforts focus on the organisms themselves, either killing them or removing cells and/or toxins from the water. An example is the use of clay spray to control fish-killing HABs. Prevention approaches focus on stopping blooms from occurring or minimizing and limiting their extent. An example is reducing nutrient inputs to water bodies to reduce HAB growth. Mitigation focuses on relieving the impacts of blooms without direct action on HAB cells and their toxins. An example of mitigation is the use of phytoplankton monitoring to provide early warning of HABs. Early warning allows multiple actions to minimize the impacts, such as closure of shellfish harvesting before they become too toxic for human consumption.

The international workshop will engage participants with expertise in research, development, and implementation of promising estuarine and marine HAB control approaches. We encourage the participation of early career ocean professionals and scientists from under-represented communities. Participants will discuss technical, environmental compliance and public perception challenges and explore solutions to these common barriers. In depth discussions of existing control methods and strategies used in different regions/countries will be fostered. The workshop findings will summarize the worldwide approaches in HAB control as a scientific report or as a collection of papers in a special issue of Harmful Algae.

The western North Pacific, one of the areas of the global ocean most affected by climate change and anthropogenic activities, consists of several marginal seas. Many international programs initiated in this area including CREAMS (Circulation Research of East Asian Marginal Seas) have contributed to significant advances in understanding of physics and biogeochemistry of North East Asian Marginal Seas. The UN Decade however requires comprehensive research programs connecting science and communities for sustainable seas. We expect this workshop would provide a forum to discuss all aspects of marine science (physical, chemical, biological oceanography and fishery science) focusing on the North East Asian Marginal Seas and its changing social-ecological-environmental system. It is especially important to identify links between marine sciences and socio-economic requirements in the area to develop an integrative program for future research in this region to correspond the UN Decade targets. Presentations covering success of integrative marine science approach in other regions of the World Ocean are welcomed. The workshop outcome should clarify a vision of international comprehensive marine research in the North East Asian region that meets the current needs of society.

Rates of discharge of pollutants including heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and plastics are increasing despite concerted effort to control them. Many of these pollutants are transported through air and water currents from a diversity of sources, then deposited in remote regions, including Arctic and Antarctic Seas, impacting ecosystem health in these regions. During past PICES meetings, MEQ and BIO (MBM-AP, which is now S-MBM) co-convened workshops and symposia in relation to the status and impacts of marine pollution. This workshop aims to develop standardized techniques to monitor the level of pollution in the remote regions where conventional sampling is difficult by using bioindicators (MBMs, Sea Turtles, Fish, Squid, Mussels, and species from other taxa that can be used potentially as a pollution bioindicator) as in situ samplers, producing indicator data of ecosystem health. For example, MBMs are useful bio-indicators of marine pollution as they bio-accumulate and magnify the low concentration of pollutants found in water to levels that are more easily detectable and measurable. As well, pollutant concentrations measured in MBM species can be considered average pollution levels integrated across a range of spatial scales, from meso to global, depending on life-history traits of the bio-indicator species. However, using MBMs as bioindicators for various pollutants requires the standardization of techniques for measuring and reporting concentration of each pollutant in each tissue for each species, as a suite of magnification factors, as well as differing half-lives among toxins, affect concentrations. Not all possible sentinel species occur in all subregions of the North Pacific, and for this reason we need to integrate further the concentration of pollutants in various tissues from various species. For example, plastic loading in stomachs of Northern Fulmar has been used successfully as indicator of plastic pollution in Europe and northern North Pacific, but this species does not occur in the south central N Pacific. In this workshop, we plan to review and compare approaches used for detecting and measuring pollutants in different tissues in various species. We also welcome original works on multiple tissues of a single species or those on a single tissue from multiple species. We will discuss the approach for standardization and integration of the concentration of pollutants in the tissue of MBMs and other possible sentinel organism for the North Pacific.

Coastal oceans are global hotspots for marine productivity, reflected in high primary producer biomass and fisheries yields. Contributing to this productivity is land-ocean connectivity, including freshwater and material contributions from land that can modify hydrodynamics and enhance micro and macronutrients concentrations. Among marine environments, coastal oceans are also uniquely vulnerable to human impacts. Approximately 40% of the human population lives within 100 km of the coast. The anthropogenic impacts associated with human settlement and development can disrupt critical land-ocean linkages. Urbanization, a pervasive form of land use change, has wide ranging effects, including shoreline modification, pollution, and changes to freshwater runoff and the quantity and quality of material flux to the ocean. However, while localized studies have examined specific urban impacts, a unified concept of urban oceans is lacking. Such a concept needs to take into account the interacting effects of the geographic, climatic and oceanographic setting of the urban environment, history of urbanization and associated impacts, and the backdrop of climate change and sea level rise. In this workshop we aim to: 1) review the state of the knowledge of urban oceans through presentations from diverse knowledge holders that specifically address the interactions between cities and coasts, focusing on case studies from the North Pacific; 2) discuss and develop an integrated conceptual framework for urban ocean ecosystems that is inclusive of different knowledge types. Such a framework is envisioned to allow for strategic solutions to healthy urban oceans, and improved communication and connection between science and communities; 3) initiate development of an urban oceans concept paper that builds off the workshop discussions. We broadly welcome presentations and participation in discussions, particularly by those whose research focuses on the ocean impacts of urbanization, whose communities are affected by coastal degradation, or whose management efforts center on mitigating these effects.

The North Pacific Ocean is a large and productive ecosystem that is characterized by strong interdecadal climate variability. This Ocean basin supports a number of flatfish species of great ecological, cultural and economic importance. Many of these species have wide distribution ranges and undergo significant ontogenetic and seasonal migrations, and, therefore, are particularly susceptible to climate and environmental variability. In order to address key issues related to flatfish species, from basic aspects of their biology to population management and conservation efforts at an international level, two FIS-sponsored PICES workshops have been held at PICES Annual Meetings. The first workshop was co-sponsored by the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) at the 2019 PICES Annual Meeting (W2) and focused on important topics on the biology and fishery of Pacific halibut and interacting species by bringing together researchers, scientists and managers from countries that are invested in this resource (highlighted in PICES Press, 2020, Vol. 28(1)). This workshop highlighted the need to apply integrative approaches to improve our understanding of the biology and management of widely-distributed flatfish species in the North Pacific Ocean, requiring a high level of cooperation at the international level. One of the deliverables of this workshop was the publication of several papers as part of a special issue in the journal Fisheries Research edited by the convenors. The second workshop will take place at the 2022 PICES Annual Meeting (W5) and will focus on addressing emerging issues in key flatfish species with broad distribution across the North Pacific Ocean related to their biology, environmental impacts on their distribution, and management. In order to capitalize on the gains of the first two workshops, the convenors are proposing a third workshop during the 2023 PICES Annual Meeting that will aim at 1) devising strategies for data sharing on fishing efforts and management of flatfish species across the North Pacific Ocean, and 2) promoting international collaborative studies to improve our knowledge on movement of flatfish populations and potential distribution changes of flatfish and other interacting species in the face of climate variability.

Asian waters are an important sea area with a relatively small area intensively used by Korean, Chinese, and Japanese fishing boats, which is exposed to overfishing of fishery resources and severe marine pollution. For the sustainable use of fishery resources and the protection of the marine environment, the understanding of the joint management by all countries concerned and the formation of a consensus for cooperation are necessary. With such recognition, leading universities in the field of fisheries and marine environment in Korea, China and Japan came together to create a joint education program for future young scientists. The program is Asia Fisheries and Marine Environment Leaders Program (AFIMA Leaders Program), aiming to nurture future professionals for the joint management of fishery resources and the marine environment in Asian waters. During upcoming session, we will introduce PICES to session participants (representatives from our partner universities and graduate students), connecting the global scientific community and AFIMA leaders program universities (i.e., faculty of Pukyong National University in Korea, Ocean University of China, and Nagasaki University in Japan, University of Malaysia, Terengganu).

Coastal communities are on the frontline of climate change. Supporting resilience and community determined climate adaptation requires strong relationship building, trust, and collaborative knowledge production that bridges multiple knowledge systems. The UN Decade of Ocean Science (2021-2030, UNDOS) has a major emphasis on co-design of science and co-production of knowledge to achieve the “ocean we want”, weaving traditional western science, with local and Indigenous knowledges to arrive at sustainable solutions for the challenges facing the oceans and coastal communities. The North Pacific and Arctic have long histories of Indigenous and Community leadership in promoting and defending coastal resilience, fisheries and ecosystem management, ecosystem health and protection of species at risk. Drawing from these experiences, this workshop and session aim to provide space for dialogue and knowledge sharing.

The workshop has three main objectives: 1) Bring together marine and coastal knowledge holders (including climate scientists, Indigenous and traditional knowledge holders, resource managers, and ocean practitioners) to showcase examples of successful partnerships, as well as new opportunities, and ongoing challenges in community-led approaches to support climate ready decision-making and ecosystem resilience. 2) Identify lessons learned from transdisciplinary and community-led work rooted in co-production. 3) Facilitate a cross regional knowledge network of coastal community leaders and ocean practitioners to provide continued support outside of the PICES annual meeting.

The first one-day agenda will include invited Indigenous speakers and transdisciplinary science practitioners. The structure will allow for interactive discussion, topical breakout sessions, and time allocated for collaborative creation. We will support a dialogue with participants to address the following questions:

Q: What are some examples/ways that communities and scientists are weaving Indigenous knowledge and western science to inform climate adaptation and coastal and ocean stewardship?

Q: What are the challenges and opportunities to bridge the gaps between community-based knowledge and management/decision making?

Q: What are some lessons learned for co-designing and co-producing knowledge with communities to foster locally determined and resilient and coastal ecosystems?

The following half-day workshop will provide an opportunity for reflection on the workshop and individual presentations on key points that emerged in the workshop. We will also invite experts from outside of the North Pacific and Arctic region to participate in this workshop to extend our scope within the Ocean Decade.

Outcomes of the workshop will include a report highlighting examples and lessons learned. Additionally, this work will inform a peer-reviewed publication on diverse methodological approaches to transdisciplinary work. Other outcomes based on discussion among participants on ways to bring together multiple ways of knowing and multiple types of knowledge, expertise, and experience to inform decision-making will be decided collaboratively by workshop participants. This interactive workshop and session build on the ongoing work from several related working groups including: Joint ICES/PICES WG44; SICCME, and GMRI, and complements a proposed S-CCME open meeting and both the S-CCME and Joint ICES/PICES WG44 business meetings at the 2023 Annual Science meeting in Seattle.

Climate change is having profound impacts on marine ecosystems and fisheries. According to the latest IPCC assessment, climate change is intensifying, and some changes are irreversible on the scale of human lifetimes. Marine ecosystems and associated fisheries will therefore continue being impacted by climate change in decades to come, posing a growing risk for global food security and socioeconomic benefits. Additionally, high latitude ecosystems such as the Arctic, are experiencing unprecedented changes in ocean conditions (e.g., ocean heating, loss of sea ice, rising sea levels) that have impacted biological and ecological processes, societal and traditional uses of Arctic natural marine resources, and economic activity including tourism, shipping, and oil and gas exploration. Despite the clear need to mitigate climate-induced risks and to adapt to future climate change, accounting for climate impacts when developing fishery management plans and policies remains challenging. For instance, despite ongoing efforts the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy still has a low adaptability to climate change.

The emergence of ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) has shown that it is possible to account for external drivers such as environmental conditions and/or predation when managing a fishery. A challenge to detecting, monitoring, and communicating changes in environmental conditions in an EBFM framework is that sampling methodology is not often standardized, which complicates regional and international syntheses. Stakeholders are also increasingly involved in the management process and can provide hands-on knowledge crucial in shaping policies to manage marine resources. By connecting science among international collaborators and Indigenous communities, we are better poised to detect, monitor, and respond to changing environmental conditions. These recent advances towards holistic fisheries management provide stepping stones towards climate-informed EBFM. In coordination with a proposed ICES ASC session, we will hold an interactive workshop to discuss emerging issues around climate-informed EBFM, build relationships with international partners, and promote cross-fertilization especially when generating robust indicators to monitor climate change.

The 1.5 day workshop will include a mix of spark presentations and discussion sessions on the following topics:

1. Case studies of accounting for climate impacts in management measures & showcasing policies applied 'in practice'
2. Best practices and approaches for considering large-scale and long-term climate impacts
3. Reconciling long-term projections and short-term tactical management
4. Advances needed for climate-ready fisheries management to be widely adopted
5. Data standardization, its application to ecosystem-based management, and the optimization of sampling platforms to monitor climate change across a variety of ecosystems and trophic levels

Oceanic environments are changing rapidly in response to climate forcing. During the past two decades we have witnessed unprecedented and perhaps sustained or irreversible modifications of ocean physics (e.g., occurrence of marine heat waves, stratification), biogeochemistry (e.g., changes in pH levels, oxygen minimum zones), populations’ redistribution (e.g., latitudinal shifts, migration patterns), as well as ecosystem structure and function (e.g., changes in the food web and energy flows related to shifts in planktonic communities). In some ways, these changes have resulted in a “new ocean”.

Our oceans have also become more crowded through the growing presence of multi-sectoral uses (e.g., commercial and recreational fisheries, aquaculture, renewable energy, etc.). As such, we are at a point where not only do we need to study and understand our “new ocean”, but we also need to develop novel ways of sampling, observing, and quantifying it. Fortunately, significant advances in our ability to sample and quantify our ocean’s new states have resulted from a robust evolution in observational (e.g., uncrewed systems, molecular approaches, satellite/remote sensing) and analytical (e.g., high performance computing, artificial intelligence/machine learning, etc.) capabilities. Such advances provide an opportunity to reevaluate the questions and approaches our scientific communities have undertaken and reassess (global and regional) science efforts as appropriate.

The workshop will focus on framing questions that can help define the next levels of understanding of our “new ocean”, as well as identifying the challenges in doing so. We aim to prioritize (e.g., a “top 5”) questions that we need to take on as a scientific community, and discuss our capabilities to address these. Included in our discussions (and implied in a prioritization or a triage) are foreseeable challenges that we might not be able to address given present or even future capabilities. Questions guiding the discussion include:

1. What should our science foci be in the study of our rapidly evolving “new ocean” (and its integration in the broader Earth system)?
2. Do we have the necessary observational and analytical capabilities - either existing, or within reach?, and if not, where should we direct our investments?
3. Do we have the necessary human capabilities/training to address these challenges, and if not, where should we direct our investments?
4. What are the biggest obstacles to be solved to address these challenges?
5. How could PICES and partner scientific communities contribute/engage? How do we sustain needed efforts beyond the present UN Decade of Ocean Science?

Posters from any workshop or science sessions that do not fit the workshop or session scopes are welcome

Email GP Session Convenor