Project: INtegrating SPatIal pRocesses into Ecosystem models for sustainable utilization of fish resources
Process-based understanding of changes in fish distributions, including especially in order to distinguish and quantify the role of natural drivers and anthropogenic impacts, is still an increasingly challenging research topic with high relevance to resource management. The overall objective of the project is to advance the knowledge base and develop quantitative measures to evaluate consequences of spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the Baltic Sea for an ecosystem-based management of the major fishery resources. The overarching tasks are to: 1) increase knowledge on the habitat requirements of different life stages of cod, herring, sprat and flounder, and identify conditions under which the connectivity between different life stages’ habitats is at risk, 2) account for processes shaping spatial and temporal heterogeneity of habitats and distributions of fish in an ecosystem-based management. The methods used will be a combination of dedicated field studies by involving fishermen, and process studies by means of multidisciplinary approaches, results of which will feed into fish stock assessment and ecosystem models made spatially explicit for the first time in the Baltic Sea. In addition to multidisciplinary science and high management relevance, the project also includes an extensive outreach component to ensure a wide dissemination of the results. Importantly, stakeholder involvement starts already at the data generation phase and continues till the end of the project.
| Acronym | INSPIRE (Reference Number: call2012-60) |
| Duration | 01/02/2014 - 31/01/2018 |
| Project Topic | Improving stock assessments and resolving spatial heterogeneity and temporal dynamics of the Baltic Sea fish stocks |
| Website | visit project website |
| Network | BONUS |
| Call | Bonus Call 2012: Viable Ecosystem |
Project partner
| Number | Name | Role | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Tartu | Coordinator | Estonia |
| 2 | Danmarks Tekniske Universitet | Partner | Denmark |
| 3 | National Marine Fisheries Research Institute | Partner | Poland |
| 4 | Stockholm University | Partner | Sweden |
| 5 | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences | Partner | Sweden |
| 6 | Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment, "BIOR" | Partner | Latvia |
| 7 | Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries | Partner | Germany |
| 8 | University of Hamburg | Partner | Germany |
| 9 | Natural Resources Institute Finland | Partner | Finland |
| 10 | Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel | Partner | Germany |
| 11 | Lund University | Partner | Sweden |
| 12 | Uppsala University | Partner | Sweden |