News and events

The end of the MariFish project - publication of the public MariFish Final Report.

The MariFish project, ’Co-ordination of European Marine Fisheries Research Programmes’, was an ERA-NET project funded by the European Commission. Eighteen partners from fifteen European countries participated in the five-year project (2006-2011) which has now come to a close.

The eighteen partners working together delivered all the major outputs agreed at the start of the project. MariFish has demonstrated the positive benefits that can arise from European collaboration. The publication of the MariFish Final Report provides a high level summary of all the major achievements undertaken during the life of the project.

Certain initiatives started under MariFish will continue including the Collaborative Programmes and the jointly-funded projects. Experience gained through MariFish will feed into EU FP7 project SEAS-ERA, and into the proposed Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) ‘Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans’. Other options for continuing collaboration, such as bi-lateral agreements, may also emerge, again building on the achievements made under MariFish.

Collaboration developed through MariFish has set a firm foundation on which further collaboration can be built. It has stimulated valuable contacts between funders, managers and scientists that will help find solutions to the future challenges facing fisheries management.

For further details on achievements undertaken during the MariFish project, please see the MariFish Final Report.

MariFish WP7 - Workshops on End-to-end models and Mediterranean model (Barcelona 15th -19th November 2010)

Between the 15th and 19th of November, two coordinated workshops took place in Barcelona, with the common objective of discussing the state-of-the-art and the future of integrated ecosystem modeling as a tool to investigate marine ecosystems.

For further information of the outcome of the joint workshop, including full details on the workshop programme, attendees, plenary, reports and gallery, please see MariFish WP7 co-ordinated workshops.

ICES ASC MariFish Theme Session R (21st – 22nd September 2010)

For the first time, a special theme session about the future organisation of research was presented at the 2010 ICES ASC - MariFish Theme Session R ‘Delivering more science with fewer resources: How do we make best use of our investment in science through joint programming, communication and knowledge management’.

• Information on outcomes of the session

The Use of Indicators in Fisheries Management Workshop
(Copenhagen August 31st -1st September 2010).

MariFish organised a workshop in Denmark (August/September 2010), to bring together the scientists who are undertaking three research projects funded through the MariFish Joint Call on the concept of operational fisheries management indicators (BADMINTON, REPROdUCE and DEFINEIT), and the fisheries managers who could potentially use the indicators.

The aims of the workshop were to:

1. Link and develop the research projects financed through the WP8 MariFish Joint Call for Proposals (BADMINTON, REPROdUCE and DEFINEIT): avoid duplication; identify potential for further collaboration; understand, discuss and develop the projects content; and develop relationships between the project participants.
2. Support the policy relevance of the projects: bring the researchers and fisheries managers from different countries together; provide the researchers with an early reality check in terms of what the fisheries managers would like from the research; enhance awareness of the central role of communication in ensuring relevance and effective inputs into policy decisions.

• Outcomes of the workshop

Three Joint Funded Projects

MariFish selects three projects for funding through its “virtual common pot” programme (WP8). Following an earlier call for proposals, MariFish can now announce the projects that will be supported through its “virtual common pot” funding programme. A total of €3.7m is being committed by partners to support three projects which together will help develop the concept of operational indicators for fisheries management. The three projects are:

1. REPROdUCE: Understanding recruitment processes using coupled biophysical models of the pelagic ecosystem. 
2. BADMINTON: Bycatch and discards: management indicators, trends and location. 
3. DEFINEIT: Developing fisheries management indicators and targets. 

• More information

Communication between research managers and scientists

Good practice guidelines have been developed as part of a study of how fishery managers and scientists communicate their research questions.

• Communication between research managers and scientists, Final Report
• Summary on Communication

Knowledge management in fisheries science and policy

MariFish commissioned a study on Knowledge Management (KM) to help ensure that we gain the greatest possible value from the substantial knowledge held within the MariFish network. The report draws on a literature review carried out earlier in the study and which sets out the context for KM in the fisheries area. The report also gives the findings of a case study and concludes with a section on nine golden rules of KM. It suggests a number of practical actions that the MariFish partners can take in order to adopt some of the good practice referred to in the Golden Rules.

• Knowledge management in fisheries science and policy, Final Report
• Summary on Knowledge Management

Links to Activity Updates

• Briefing on the WP7 Discard Collaborative Programme is now available (PDF, 370 KB)
• Briefing on the WP7 Mediterranean Collaborative Programme is now available (PDF, 479 KB)
• MoU on collaborative project between partners now available (PDF, 253 KB)
• Symposium on Future Demands for Fisheries Research held in Roskilde, Denmark
• FP7 Seminar on Marine Sciences: MariFish involved
• Meeting to discuss Economics and Social Science in Fisheries

Past News and Events:

• MariFish 7th Steering Committee Meeting

  The final MariFish Steering Committee Meeting took place in London, UK on 3rd – 4th November 2010.

• Joint call for research to be announced soon

  MariFish partners are embarking on a joint call to develop fisheries management indicators that will help to develop long term management plans for sustainable fisheries. More information on this can be found at http://www.marifish.net/publications under Work Package 8.

• Collaborative Programme Meeting

  A meeting will be held in Lyon, France, to develop a collaborative programme bringing together the existing research of 14 European partners. The leading scientists (specialising in gear technology and discard mitigation) of 16 research organisations will meet to discuss practical actions for bringing the individual projects closer together. For example, scientists may agreed to share data, exchange staff and coordinate the outputs of the research to improve communication and involvement of stakeholders. More information on this can be found at http://www.marifish.net/publications under Work Package 7.

• 2nd Steering Committee Meeting of MariFish held at the ICES Conference in Maastricht
• ‘Start-up’ Meeting a success!