Fri, September 29, 2017 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS RESEARCH LABORATORY (AERL). 
Location: AERL 120 (Theatre)
2202 Main Mall, UBC
Speaker: Dr. Villy Christensen
Professor, Global Ocean Modelling, IOF, UBC
There is almost global agreement that marine resources have to be managed sustainably and with an ecosystem perspective. Ecosystem models play an important role for this, but are they actually used for fisheries management and setting of policies? When considering this, remember that models should be used for what they are good for, and that different models are constructed for different purposes. Ecosystem models are primarily for strategic considerations of the kind: where do we want to be with this ecosystem in the medium term (i.e. 5-10 years)? As such, they compliment assessment models that are constructed for shorter-term tactical purposes. So, are they now, after decades of development actually being used for management and policy? In this talk, I will give a cursory overview of the type of questions that the most widely used ecosystem modelling framework, Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) is being used to address and how this is being used for actual management and policy settings around the world.
Villy is one of the core faculty of IOF, and he primarily works with development of tools for ecosystem based management, notably the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) approach and modelling framework – in close cooperation with Carl Walters and colleagues around the world. As part of this, he serves as Executive Board Chair of the Ecopath International Research and Development Consortium, which has 27 organizations as members. He has been involved in numerous international assessments, including the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, UNEP’s Global Environmental Outlooks and most recently as a lead author for IPBES. Recent activities range in scale from treating the global ocean as an ecosystem for evaluating combined climate and fisheries impacts to predicting ecological impacts of building a new container terminal at Roberts Bank.
IOF Seminar Series: Invited speakers present the latest research in a wide range of disciplines related to freshwater systems, the oceans and fisheries. These seminars draw a diverse audience, leading to thought-provoking discussions and a sharing of new ideas and perspectives.