Introduction: Changes in the North Sea Ecosystem and Their Causes: Århus 1975 Revisted

Abstract

Århus 1975 was revisited by 70 marine scientists from eight Member Countries of ICES from 11 to 14 July 1995. We say ‘‘revisited’’ because an ICES Symposium on ‘‘North Sea Fish Stocks – Recent Changes and Their Causes’’ was convened by Professor Gotthilf Hempel in the same surroundings at the University of Århus exactly 20 years earlier. The Conveners of the 1995 Symposium were Dr Niels Daan (The Netherlands) and Dr Katherine Richardson (Denmark), supported by Steering Committee members Professor Franciscus Colijn (Germany), Dr John R. G. Hislop (United Kingdom), Dr Britta Pedersen (Denmark), Professor John G. Pope (United Kingdom), and Dr Fredric Serchuk (United States). The evolution that the ICES role has undergone during the intervening period is evident. The 1995 Symposium addressed changes in all aspects of the ecosystem and of human activities rather than focusing solely on fish and fisheries as the earlier Symposium had done. A total of 35 papers and 20 posters were presented during seven sessions, and 36 of these presentations appear as written contributions in this volume. During recent decades, changes have been observed over a wide range of biota from phytoplankton to birds, and we tried to relate almost everything to anything. Our intention was to keep the Symposium small to give the best possible conditions for active scientific exchange, and we believe that the relatively small size of the audience contributed to the stimulating discussions we experienced. The Symposium was, in our eyes, a success if only because hydrographers, ecologists, chemists, biologists, and fisheries scientists were, for once, not just talking among themselves but to each other. The event was truly ‘‘interdisciplinary’’.