Browsing by Author "Pita, Cristina"
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- Generic skills needs for graduate employment in the aquaculture, fisheries and related sectors in EuropePublication . Pita, Cristina; Eleftheriou, Margaret; Fernández-Borrás, Jaime; Gonçalves, Susana; Mente, Eleni; Santos, Begoña; Seixas, Sónia; Pierce, GrahamThere is an increasing demand for highly skilled workers in all advanced industrialised economies. Although most jobs require occupation-specific skills to carry them out, it is widely recognised that generic skills are ever more needed by job seekers, to increase job opportunities and maintain employability; this applies to all sectors of the economy, from selling cars to undertaking marine research. Several recent European Union strategy documents emphasise the importance of generic skills. However, the apparent mismatch between the skills sets that employers seek and that job seekers offer remains a major challenge. This paper focuses on perceptions of and attitudes to generic skills training for university graduates intending to gain employment in aquaculture, fisheries or other marine sectors and presents the results of a survey administered to academics, industry representatives, students (at different stages of their academic career) and graduates. The various respondents regarded most of the 39 generic skills under investigation as important, with none classified as unimportant. However, students undertaking different types of degree (i.e. B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D.) prioritized different generic skills and the level of importance ascribed to generic skills training increased as students progressed in their university careers. On the other hand, university staff and other employers were fairly consistent in their choice of the most important generic skills. We argue that there remains a need to place generic skills and employability attributes and attitudes at the centre of the higher education curriculum.
- Impacts of anthropogenic activities on cephalopodsPublication . Pierce, Graham; Abad, Esther; Allcock, Louise; Badouvas, Nicholas; Barrett, Christopher; González-Gómez, Roberto; Hendrickson, Lisa; Lefkaditou, Evgenia; Lonsdale, Jemma; Matos, Fábio; Moustahfid, Hassan; Oesterwind, Daniel; Perales-Raya, Catalina; Pita, Cristina; Power, Anne Marie; Roumbedakis, Katina; Seixas, Sónia; Valeiras, Julio; Villasante, Sebastián; Laptikhovsky, Vladimir; Robin, Jean-Paul; Lishchenko, FedorIn past centuries, the impacts on cephalopods from humankind were negligible. The first documented small-scale exploitation of cephalopods occurred in the Mediterranean and Asia. Between 1950-2019, global cephalopod catches increased by about an order of magnitude, from 0.5 million tones to a peak of 4.85 million tons. The human impact on the oceans also increased substantially in this period. Human-induced climate change, habitat destruction, increased marine traffic, development of coastal infrastructure, pollution and growing fishing effort, may all have had negative impacts on cephalopod populations. But while the responses to anthropogenic impacts have been investigated for many ecosystem components, those for cephalopods are largely unknown. Cephalopods are sensitive to multiple environmental variables such as ocean temperature and dissolved oxygen concentrations, while geographic shifts in distribution in response to temperature changes are already documented. Their sensitivities to other human pressures are beginning to emerge, but most of these still need to be examined. How much habitat has been lost? How does noise affect cephalopods? What are the lethal thresholds for various chemical pollutants, or how may these act to inhibit reproduction? Does light pollution impact cephalopods? With such knowledge gaps, it is difficult to predict how cephalopods will respond to increasing human impacts. Our study aims to provide a review of what is known about anthropogenic impacts on cephalopods and their potential responses to these impacts. This information can be used to identify the research priorities for improving our understanding of human-induced impacts on cephalopods and the development of mitigation measures.
- Management for sustainable cephalopod fisheries in Europe: review and recommendationsPublication . Pierce, Graham; Abad, Esther; Ainsworth, Gill; Alcock, Loise; Bobowski, Bianca; Gonzalez, Angel; Gras, Michael; Hendrickson, Lisa; Iriondo, Ane; Laptikhovsky, Vladimir; Larivain, Angela; Longo, Katie; Macho, Gonzalo; Matos, Fabio; Monteiro, Silvia; Montero-Castaño, Carlos; Moreno, Ana; Moustahfid, Hassan; Oesterwind, Daniel; Pita, Cristina; Roa-Ureta, Ruben; Robin, Jean- Paul; Roumbedakis, Katina; Seixas, Sónia; Sobrino, Ignacio; Valeiras, Julio; Villasante, Sebastian; Power, Anne MarieAlthough cephalopod fisheries are of world-wide importance, in Europe catching cephalopods is managed only in small-scale fisheries, at national level, and few stocks are formally assessed. Because cephalopods are not quota species under the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, there is currently no requirement for assessment or management at European level. Given increasing interest in targeting cephalopods in Europe, there is a risk that they will be fished unsustainably. Although there have been recent review papers on progress in stock assessment and fishery forecasting for commercially fished cephalopods there has been no recent review of cephalopod fishery management. We aim to fill this gap, with a particular focus on European cephalopod fisheries.We review potential barriers to sustainable fishing and reasons why management of cephalopod fisheries differs from that for finfish fisheries, e.g. due to the high inherent volatility and the possibly cyclic nature of year-to-year variation in cephalopod abundance, reflecting their short lifespan, rapid growth and high sensitivity to environmental conditions. We review fishery management approaches in important cephalopod fisheries worldwide (e.g. in the USA, Japan, Falklands, South Africa, Australia and Russia) and current management of small-scale cephalopod fisheries in Europe. We identify knowledge gaps and limitations to current monitoring programmes and stock assessments and discuss the options available for cephalopod fishery management in Europe, considering the suitability or otherwise of catch and effort limits, use of closed areas and seasons, restrictions on sizes caught and types of fishing gear, and the ole of market-based sustainability pathways.
- Sustainability of fisheriesPublication . Pierce, Graham; Pita, Cristina; Santos, M. Begona; Seixas, SóniaThis chapter reviews the concept of sustainability in fisheries, focussing on fisheries in Europe and paying particular attention to the human dimensions of fisheries. The particular problems presented by fisheries (related to the “Tragedy of the Com- mons”) are introduced, followed by brief accounts of the importance of fisheries worldwide and of their history in Europe. We attempt to summarize the concepts embodied in fisheries management and governance and review the different dimensions (pillars) of sustainability in the context of fisheries: environmental, economic, social and institutional. We describe some current developments in management and governance of European fisheries, including the introduction of property rights, the role of ecological labelling and the concept of demand-led management, participation and co-management, marine protected areas and Integrated Marine Management. We advocate a system of governance under which more attention is placed on achieving the possible than in quantifying the unachievable, a system which delivers successful implementation of sustainabil- ity objectives based on holistic (and multidisciplinary) assessments of environ- mental, economic and social-cultural consequences of proposed actions and which is based on the full and active participation of all relevant stakeholders
- The future of cephalopod populations, fisheries, culture, and research in EuropePublication . Pierce, Graham; Belcari, Paola; Bustamante, Paco; Challier, Laurence; Cherel, Yves; González, Ángel; Guerra, Ángel; Jereb, Patrizia; Koueta, Noussithé; Lefkaditou, Eugenia; Moreno, Ana; Pereira, João; Piatkowski, Uwe; Pita, Cristina; Robin, Jean‐Paul; Roel, Beatriz; Santos, M. Begoña; Santurtun, Marina; Seixas, Sónia; Shaw, Paul; Smith, Jennifer; Stowasser, Gabrielle; Valavanis, Vasilis; Villanueva, Roger; Wang, Jianjun; Wangvoralak, Sansanee; Weis, Manuela; Zumholz, Karsten
- Working group on cephalopod fisheries and life history (WGCEPH; outputs from 2019 meeting)Publication . Abad, Esther; Badouva, Nicholas; Fotiad, Nikolaos; González, Ángel; Iriondo, Ane; Juarez, Ana; Karatza, Alexandra; Laptikhovsky, Vladimir; Larivain, Angela; Lefkadito, Evgenia; Lishchenko, Fedor; Matos, Fábio; Moreno, Ana; Monteiro, Silvia; Oesterwind, Daniel; Perales-Raya, Catalina; Petroni, Michael; Piatkowski, Uwe; Pierce, Graham John; Pita, Cristina; Power, Anne Marie; Robin, Jean-Paul; Rocha, Alberto; Samara, Elina; Santurtun, Marina; Seixas, Sónia; Silva, Luis; Smith, Jennifer; Sobrino, Ignacio; Valeiras, Julio; Villasante, Sebastian
- Working group on cephalopod fisheries and life history (Wgceph; outputs from 2022 meeting)Publication . Abad, Esther; Ainsworth, Gillian; Akselrud, Caitlin; Allcock, Louise; Badouvas, Nicholas; Baker, Krista; Barrett, Christopher; Bobowski, Bianca; Carreira, Xose; Certain, Gregoire; Dinis, David; Escánez, Alejandro; Fotiadis, Nikolaos; Ganias, Konstantinos; Golikov, Alexey; Gonzalez, Angel; Gonzalez Gomez, Roberto; Gonzalez, Jose Gustavo; Hendrickson, Lisa; Iriondo, Ane; Seixas, Sónia; Jone, Jessica; Juare, Ana; Jurado-Ruzaf, Alba; Karatz, Alexandra; Kousteni, Vasiliki; Laptikhovsky, Vladimir; Larivain, Angela; Lefkaditou, Eugenia; Lishchenko, Fedor; Rivero, Gonzalo; Matos, Fábio; Marcou, Anna; Maximenko, Darya; Monteiro, Sílvia; Montero, Carlos; Moreno, Ana; Moustahfid, Hassan; Oesterwind, Daniel; Otero, Jaime; Perales-Raya, Catalina; Petroni, Michael; Pierce, Graham; Pita, Cristina; Pita, Pablo; Marie Power, Anne; Roa-Ureta, Ruben; Robin, Jean-Paul; Rocha, Alberto; Roumbedakis, Katina; Sheerin, Edel; Silva, Luis; Sobrino, Ignacio; Smith, Jennifer; Spence, Michael; Valeiras, Julio; Vidoris, Pavlos; Villanueva, Roger; Villasante, Sebastian; Vossen, Kathrin; Zimina, VictoriaWGCEPH worked on six Terms of Reference. These involved reporting on the status of stocks; reviewing advances in stock identification, assessment for fisheries management and for the Ma- rine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), including some exploratory stock assessments; re- viewing impacts of human activities on cephalopods; developing identification guides and rec- ommendations for fishery data collection; describing the value chain and evaluating market driv- ers; and reviewing advances in research on environmental tolerance of cephalopods. ToR A is supported by an annual data call for fishery and survey data. During 2019–2021, com- pared to 1990–2020, cuttlefish remained the most important cephalopod group in terms of weight landed along the European North Atlantic coast, while loliginid squid overtook octopus as the second most important group. Short-finned squid remained the least important group in land- ings although their relative importance was almost double in 2019–2022 compared to 1992–2020. Total cephalopod landings have been fairly stable since 1992. Cuttlefish landings are towards the low end of the recent range, part of a general downward trend since 2004. Loliginid squid landings in 2019 were close to the maximum seen during the last 20 years but totals for 2020 and 2021 were lower. Annual ommastrephid squid landings are more variable than those of the other two groups and close to the maximum seen during 1992– 2021. Octopod landings have generally declined since 2002 but the amount landed in 2021 was higher than in the previous four years. Under ToR B we illustrate that the combination of genetic analysis and statolith shape analysis is a promising method to provide some stock structure information for L. forbsii. With the sum- mary of cephalopod assessments, we could illustrate that many cephalopod species could al- ready be included into the MSFD. We further provide material from two reviews in preparation, covering stock assessment methods and challenges faced for cephalopod fisheries management. Finally, we summarise trends in abundance indices, noting evidence of recent declines in cuttle- fish and some octopuses of the genus Eledone. Under ToR C, we describe progress on the reviews of (i) anthropogenic impacts on cephalopods and (ii) life history and ecology. In relation to life history, new information on Eledone cirrhosa from Portugal is included. Under ToR D we provide an update on identification guides, discuss best practice in fishery data collection in relation to maturity determination and sampling intensity for fishery monitoring. Among others, we recommend i) to include the sampling of cephalopods in any fishery that (a) targets cephalopods, (b) targets both cephalopods and demersal fishes or (c) takes cephalopods as an important bycatch, ii) Size-distribution sampling, iii) the use of standardized sampling pro- tocols, iv) an increased sampling effort in cephalopod. Work under ToR E on value chains and market drivers, in conjunction with the Cephs & Chefs INTERREG project, has resulted in two papers being submitted. Abstracts of these are in the report. Finally, progress under ToR F on environmental tolerance limits of cephalopods and climate en- velope models is discussed, noting the need to continue this work during the next cycle.
- Working Group on Social Indicators (WGSOCIAL; outputs from 2023 meeting)Publication . Himes-Cornell, Amber; Kraan, Marloes; Bjørkan, Maiken; Ballesteros, Marta; Carvallo, Marianna; Clay, Patricia; Fraga, Ana; Fuller, Jessica; Garcia de Vinuesa, Alfredo; Glyki, Eirini; Gourguet, Sophie; Hind-Ozan, Edward; Jackson, Emmett; Lam, Mimi; Lucas, Chloe; Montova, Arina; Pita, Cristina; Pita, Pablo; Riechers, Maraja; Schreiber, Milena; Seixas, Sónia; Silva, Angela; Steins, Nathalie; Villasante, SebastiánThe Working Group on Social Indicators seeks to improve the integration of social sciences in ICES Ecosystem Overviews and Integrated Ecosystem Assessments through the development of culturally relevant social indicators. To advance progress on this, WGSOCIAL has broadly discussed the context of the social di-mension of fishing. This has led to coordination with other working groups within ICES and outside ICES with the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries Expert Working Group Social and with the Regional Coordination Group on Economics Issues. WGSOCIAL develops methods for qualitative and quantitative approaches. It has also continued providing input to the updating of ecosystem overviews finalizing those of the Celtic Seas and North Sea. WGSOCIAL has advanced work on the definition and context of trade-offs and trade-off analy sis in the social context of fisheries. To assess social and cultural significance of commercial fishing, WGSOCIAL members have advanced case studies in a number of ICES Member Countries: two regions in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway. Each case study tackles a different approach with a different context. In addition, WGSOCIAL has advanced work on the topic of what a fishing community is and how the definition can change in different contexts. Lastly, WGSOCIAL has developed a database of social and economic indicators for evaluating fisheries management and identified a comprehensive list of categories and sub-categories of social and economic indicators that could be used to structure the selection of social indicators that inform fisheries managers. As a nest step, WGSOCIAL will identify key social indicators and data gaps for selected ICES Member Countries with recommendations for approaches to close the gaps. To support integrated socio-ecological evaluations in ecosystem-based management, WGSOCIAL has contributed to the development of work on the impacts of wind farms on com-mercial fishing activities. This work will continue in collaboration with WGECON, with whom several parallel terms of reference (ToRs) are shared. WGSOCIAL decided to transfer to the new ICES Human Dimension Steering Group.
- Workshop to compile evidence on the impacts of offshore renewable energy on fisheries and marine ecosystems (WKCOMPORE)Publication . Alexander, Karen; Akimova, Anna; Aonghusa, Catriona; Schreiber, Arias; Arjona, Yolanda; Arrigan, Michael; Balestri, Elena; Beerman, Jan; Belgrano, Andrea; Bicknell, Anthony; Birchenough, Silvana; Bolam, Stefan; Brown, Elliot; Buchholzer, Helene; Buyse, Jolien; Cadrin, Steve; Carlier, Antoine; Carlström, Julia; Carlén, Ida; Causon, Paul; Villanueva, Maria; Coolen, Joop; Cormier, Roland; Costa, Gisela; Daewel, Ute; Dameron, Tom; Dauvin, Jean-Claude; Desroy, Nicolas; Egidazu, Beñat; Evans, Peter; Pardo, Juan; Farrell, Edward; Fernandes, Ana; Gee, Kira; Gill, Andrew; Gilles, Anita; Gimpel, Antje; Grazino, Marcello; Hall, Raymond; Hamdi, Ilhem; Hamon, Katell; Henriques, Sofia; Hjorleifsson, Einar; Hogan, Fiona; Hovstad, Knut; Ibanez-Erquiaga, Bruno I; Janas, Urszula; Jong, Karen; Jongbloed, Ruud; Jon, Patrik; Kannen, Andreas; Kenny, Andrew; Kloppmann, Matthias; Koschinski, Sven; Kraan, Marloes; Lindkvist, Emilie; Lloret, Josep; Lusseau, David; MacDonald, Hannah; Machado, Ines; MacLeod, Ellie; Chai, Stephen; Martine, Roi; Mateo, Maria; Mazaleyrat, Anna; McQueen, Kate; Morrissey, Karyn; Morsbach, Samuel; Muench, Angela; Ndah, Anthony; Neumann, Hermann; Niiranen, Caitriona; Donnell, Aodh; Pascual, Jose; Pirrone, Claudio; Pita, Cristina; Police, Simon; Polte, Patrick; Rebai, Nourhaen; Rehren, Jennifer; Rumes, Bob; Hjøllo, Solfrid; Schulze, Torsten; Silva, Alexandra; Skog, Malin; Stelzenmüller, Vanessa; Tamis, Jacqueline; Thebaud, Olivier; Tierney, Kieran; Trifonova, Neda; Valcarce, Paula; Vanaverbeke, Jan; Velasco, Eva; Villasante, Sebastian; Vinagre, Pedro; Vries, Pepijn de; Waldo, Staffan; Want, Andrew; Watson, Gordon; Wrede, Alexa; White, Jonathan; Wright, Kirsty; Wu, Huixin; Seixas, Sónia; Hamon, Katell; Kannen, Andreas; Vanaverbeke, JanThis report provides a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the current state-of-the art in available evidence and science concerning the economic, social, and ecological impacts of offshore wind farms (OWF) and floating offshore wind farms (FLOW) on fisheries in the Baltic Sea, Celtic Seas, and Greater North Sea. It describes the observed and potential economic, social, ecological and cumulative impacts of OWF and FLOW, with a focus on the scope of the existing evidence base, data and methods to assess impacts, and mitigation options to avoid or reduce unwanted impacts. Overall, the workshop to compile evidence on the impacts of offshore renewable energy on fisheries and marine ecosystems (WKCOMPORE) highlights the need for additional high-resolution data, comprehensive assessments, and stakeholder involvement to better understand and mitigate the impacts of OWF and FLOW on fisheries and marine ecosystems. Specific ‘key findings’ arising from WKCOMPORE include: Economic and Social Impacts: The assessment of economic and social impacts of OWF and FLOW requires high-resolution data on vessel positions, fisheries catch and effort, fisheries economics, and social data. However, existing data are often insufficiently detailed and not well-linked, making comprehensive impact assessments a challenge. Both ex-ante (before) and ex-post (after) methods are used to assess these impacts. Studies have shown that OWF and FLOW can negatively affect income, fishing grounds, catching opportunities, and operating costs. It was concluded there are generally more studies reporting on negative impacts than positive benefits. Context factors such as the type of OWF and FLOW, development phase, and adaptive capacity of fisheries influence the nature and magnitude of impacts. No studies were found on trade-offs between economic impacts on fisheries and OWF and FLOW. Ecological Impacts (benthos and higher trophic levels): OWF and FLOW development phases have known or predicted local impacts on commercially fished species, but no population-level assessments were identified. The requirements for such analyses are, however, described. Assessing the potential impact of offshore wind farms (OWF) (fixed and floating) on commercial species requires a detailed understanding on how related human operations and the pressures they exert cause environmental effects leading to population-level impacts across spatial and temporal scales. Combined pressures caused by OWFs, climate change and other human pressures give rise to cumulative risks, demanding integrated environmental assessments such as cumulative effects assessments (CEA) and multi-scale management strategies. · The trait-based framework (TAFOW) applied in the current study links OWF-induced state changes to population characteristics and response traits, enabled species vulnerabilities to all phases of OWF life cycle to be assessed. · A total of 34 commercial species were assessed in the North Sea, Celtic Sea, and Baltic Sea, using the TAFOW framework, which identified that sediment resuspension was likely to be the most impactful state change, with highest vulnerabilities noted in the Celtic Sea driven by changes in larval dispersal and predator-prey interactions. The present study revealed that from the 34 commercially most important fisheries resources assessed; herring, great scallop, and monkfish are the most vulnerable species across the three regions. Trophic interactions and recruitment survival of fisheries resources are particularly vulnerable to pressures that are exerted by operational OWF. It was concluded there is insufficient evidence to directly assess and quantify the effects of OWF and FLOW on the Western Baltic herring stock, although there is no direct specific evidence to suggest existing OWF sites are impacting Western Baltic herring stocks. Baltic Proper harbour porpoise will likely be directly affected during all stages of offshore renewable energy development, and especially by the introduction of underwater noise. Given the aforementioned critically low population size, even moderate impacts are to be avoided. Cumulative Impacts: WKCOMPORE evaluated existing methods and models with the potential to assess cumulative impacts of OWF and FLOW. Some models and tools were deemed suitable or had potential through further development to quantify cumulative impacts and test mitigation options. An important distinction is made between CEA models/ tools based on risk assessment framework approaches which are useful in identifying ecosystem components in areas at highest risk, from ecosystem models which can quantitatively assess the interactions between specific aspects of windfarm developments and fisheries in support of operational management advice. The models/ tools evaluated in the present study (in terms of their operational utility), classified as ecosystem models, offering the greatest utility to support operationally CEAs were; VMStools, FishSET, Community Profiling Tools. DISPLACE, OSMOSE and EwE/ Ecospace. The importance of developing case studies to demonstrate the practical application of available strategic risk-based assessment frameworks (such as BowTie, FEISA, ODEMM and SCAIRM) should be linked explicitly with the outputs of quantitative (mechanistic) ecosystem models where possible. It was concluded there is no single CEA or ecosystem model/ tool available to provide a comprehensive assessment of all component interactions at a social, economic and ecological level, between windfarm developments and fisheries. The application of a combination of CEA and ecosystem models/ tools is therefore recommended for assessment purposes. The current study concluded the need to increase focus on exploring long time-series fisheries and environmental data (>10 years) to better describe and understand the spatial/temporal dynamics of core fishing areas and climate effects in response to offshore windfarms. Hydrodynamic and Pelagic Ecological Effects: (foodweb, productivity and lower trophic levels): Most commercial species with a pelagic life stage within an ecoregion will overlap in spatial distribution with dynamic cables associated with OWF and FLOW throughout the time that the cables are in the water column (construction, operation and decommissioning). Interactions between species and cables leading to responses will relate to either direct energy emissions, physical effects and/or indirect ecological effects. Only during OWF and FLOW operations will dynamic power cables create energy emissions sufficient to represent potential stressors to commercial pelagic fisheries species. The timing of exposure to energy emissions will be determined by the operational characteristics of the cables and the length of time that species use the pelagic environment around dynamic power cables. An approach to assess the impacts of dynamic power cables on commercial fish species is proposed. Turbines create atmospheric wakes, and underwater structures modify currents and stratification. These changes affect primary production and support communities of filter feeders. Offshore wind farms (OWFs) provide stepping stones for species dispersal across unsuitable environments, benefiting both indigenous and non-indigenous species (NIS), especially benthic species with long larval pelagic phases. However, the relative influence of OWFs compared to other artificial substrates remains unclear. All NIS observations in OWFs had previously been reported from the region. Floating OWFs are likely to harbour non-indigenous species (NIS) and facilitate their spread through turbine transport between ports and wind farms. Evidence from similar structures supports this, but direct studies on floating OWFs are lacking. Impressed Current Cathodic Protection (ICCP) may enhance calcifying organism growth in biofouling communities, with potential regional variations due to environmental factors. Confidence in this effect is however low, as it lacks robust empirical support. Galvanic Anode Cathodic protection (GACP) may impact biofouling communities through metal toxicity effects, but confidence is low due to limited studies. Elevated temperatures on cooling water pipes and dynamic cables in OWFs might influence biofouling community composition and growth rates. However, evidence remains inconclusive, and further studies of this pressure is required. OWF sound pollution may impact biofouling organism behaviour, with variability across species. The relationship between sound and invertebrate behaviour in OWFs is poorly understood, and its ecological significance remains uncertain. Underwater structures can directly affect ocean dynamics by causing friction and flow obstruction. This increases turbulence, reduces current speed, and weakens water stratification up to 400 meters behind the structures. Enhanced mixing induced by OWFs may increase nutrient availability in the euphotic zone, promoting local phytoplankton production in the near-field of the structures. This effect applies primarily to fixed-bottom foundations. Reduced wind speeds within atmospheric wakes decrease wind-driven currents and ocean mixing, strengthening water stratification on scales up to 100 km away from the OWFs. Large wind farms create vertical circulation patterns (upwelling and downwelling). This can increase primary production around and decrease it inside wind farm areas. The currently planned OWF installation in the North Sea can induce changes in hydrographic conditions that might alter spatial and temporal dynamics in the marine ecosystems. In a published model scenario considering the installation of 120GW in the North Sea, local ecosystem changes could reach up to 10% not only at the OWF side but on a regional scale. Mitigation measures Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP): Maritime (or Marine) Spatial Planning (MSP) provides a way to allocate areas to OWF & FLOW and other human activities, and through subordinate planning processes, instruments and supporting procedures contribute to the identification and implementation of management measures, including mitigation options. Multi-use and co-use approaches seek to enable co-existence between users and activities. Stakeholder involvement, engagement and co-design help enable development of mitigation options that are technically, economically, politically, socially and ecologically feasible, and supported, or at least accepted, by stakeholders.