I have been attending meetings of the North Pacific Marine
Science Organization (PICES)
for over 10 years. The week-long meetings have always been the definitive place
to hear about cutting edge physical and biological oceanographic studies of the
North Pacific, and the influence of these physical and lower-trophic level
effects on important marine species including marine mammals, birds, and
commercial fishes.
However in recent years, thanks to the objectives of the
overarching FUTURE
(Forecasting and Understanding Trends, Uncertainty and Responses to North
Pacific Marine Ecosystems) program and its focus on engagement, the PICES
community has successfully broadened the types of science represented. It now
includes a substantive human components section, as well as quality science on
how multiple impacts may influence coastal communities, and the latest
approaches to ocean monitoring. All told, the meeting now presents a
stimulating, vertically integrated buffet of science from
physical oceanography all the way up to human values.
At this year's meeting, held in Nanaimo, BC, CHANS lab was
well represented in a number of these themes. I was pleased to have an
opportunity to give a plenary talk on the opening day of the conference
describing some key aspects of my thesis work related to model uncertainty.
Kai's talks were the highlight of the human dimensions session, where he
described our British
Columbia Coastal Ecosystem Services project, and his work with NCEAS on integrating
cultural values into decision making. The value of expert knowledge was
addressed by our associate Stephen
Ban, who explored the use of a Bayesian Belief Network to assess climate
change impacts on the Great Barrier Reef. Our lab was also well represented in
the cumulative impacts session, with post-doc Cathryn Clarke Murray doing a
bang-up job on a method for assessing direct and indirect risk from human
activities (she was awarded best presentation in the Marine Environmental
Quality Sessions!), and by former post-doc Rebecca
Martone (now at Center for Ocean Solutions) presenting some critical work
on ground-truthing predictive models of cumulative impacts.
All in all, it was a great week for getting some of the
cutting-edge work underway here at CHANS lab out there, and for us to get a
taste of what is going on elsewhere around the North Pacific. You can search for our abstracts (or browse the entire abstract book!) here.
Who knows - you might find the science as interesting as we do, and join us at
the next annual meeting!
Edward Gregr
