SCOPE

Population genomics enables the identification of both neutral and adaptive markers; the former can provide information about connectivity among areas due to migration and drift and the latter about strategies of adaptation to changing environment/conditions due to selection. These insights can provide the basis for defining genetically isolated populations and/or locally-adapted management units and informing conservation strategies. While providing valuable opportunities for the profitable and sustainable exploitation of marine fish, as an emerging and dynamic field, the best practices and techniques to be applied, and their effective integration into fisheries management and marine conservation strategies are still being developed.

TOPIC

The Foresight Workshop is designed to bring together fisheries management practitioners, stakeholders involved in fisheries policy making and governance, as well as genomic scientists to facilitate interaction and promote synergistic activities aimed at improved stock monitoring, prediction, and management to ensure sustainability in response to naturally- and anthropogenically-induced changes to the marine environment.

OBJECTIVES

This EuroMarine 2016 Foresight Workshop offers an important venue to bring together leaders and specialists in fisheries management and genomics to build a knowledge-platform to advance the use of cutting-edge genomic techniques in fisheries stock assessment and provide new methods and technological frameworks to inform fisheries management practices.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

Together, the team will put together their complementary expertise to produce a synthesis paper of the current status of the use of population genomics in fisheries management, its applicability, value, and limitations, and also provide a set of guidelines of best practice for obtaining fisheries-relevant data together with its correct interpretation and application in management plans. This synthesis will seek to find common ground and understanding between genomicists, fisheries management practitioners, and policy makers, and provide stratagems for improved collaboration and action.