WP 1 Programme Management

The management of the project will be operational through the establishment of a Steering Committee and the daily supervision by the project leader, Kjellrun Hiis Hauge. 

WP 2 The Physical-Biological Framework

The work will be based on IMR’s expertise on 4-dimentional coupled numerical modeling of physics, chemistry and biology (lower trophic levels) and the modeling of trophic interaction on higher levels. A major challenge will be to find ways of estimating the total uncertainty of estimated state variables.

WP 3 Data Collection Regimes Reflecting the Demands of WP 2,4 and 5

The data collection will be organised in coordination with present monitoring but under an independent regime. Traditional platforms and methodology will be used along with a number of modern techniques that may supply new and unique information essential to new models and alternative approaches.

WP 4 Operational Indicators

This work package considers the research on indicators at three levels:

Estimation of the health of individuals within a stock.

Estimation of population ‘health’.

Estimation of ecosystem condition.

WP 5 Synthesis and Management Perspectives

Three new approaches for making fishery management advice will be carried out:

1) Assessment models including stock interactions to support a multi-species management strategy will be used.

2) Data collection on key dynamics will be optimized to improve parameters in present standard assessment tools.

3) The inclusion of one or more indicators as part of the harvest control rule will be tested.