Using indicators for evaluating, comparing, and communicating the ecological status of exploited marine ecosystems. 1. the indiSeas project

Abstract

One of the challenges faced by the scientific community grappling with the ecosystem approach to fisheries is to propose a generic set of synthetic ecological indicators, which would accurately reflect the effects of fisheries on marine ecosystems, and could support sound communication and management practices. The IndiSeas Working Group was established in 2005 under the auspices of the Eur-Oceans Network of Excellence to develop methods to provide indicators-based assessments of the status of exploited marine ecosystems in a comparative framework. Here, we present the two main outputs of the first phase of the project: a suite of papers documenting a combination of indicator-based methods and results comparing the ecological status of the world's exploited marine ecosystems, and a website aiming to communicate these results beyond scientific audiences. © 2009 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Oxford Journals. All rights reserved.