Periodic Reporting for period 3 - EcoScope (Ecocentric management for sustainable fisheries and healthy marine ecosystems)
Período documentado: 2024-09-01 hasta 2025-08-31
EcoScope (Ecocentric management for sustainable fisheries and healthy marine ecosystems – Grant 101000302) is an H2020 project that aimed to address ecosystem degradation, anthropogenic impacts and unsustainable fisheries and to co-design and promote efficient, holistic, sustainable, ecosystem-based fisheries management that would aid towards restoring fisheries sustainability and ensuring balance between food security and healthy seas.
The overall objective of EcoScope was to co-design and develop an efficient, holistic, ecocentric approach to sustainable fisheries management and e-tools that stakeholders and end-users can easily use. The objective was achieved through the development of an interoperable platform and a robust decision-making toolbox that can be easily used by policy makers and advisory bodies who were involved in the design, development and operation of both the platform and the toolbox that are adaptive to their capacity, needs and data availability.
The EcoScope Platform and the EcoScope Toolbox, along with the novel ecosystem modelling approaches and scenario testing under uncertainty can be used to support integrated ecocentric management commensurate with safeguarding economic viability, within the policies and directives of the EU. The specific objectives of EcoScope had been designed to fulfil the requirements of the Common Fisheries Policy, and the Blue Growth Strategy while also aiming to achieve Good Environmental Status for the descriptors of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which all require an ecosystem-based approach. The main outputs of EcoScope are fully aligned with the EU Green Deal, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive.
The overall objective of EcoScope was to co-design and develop an efficient, holistic, ecocentric approach to sustainable fisheries management and e-tools that stakeholders and end-users can easily use. The objective was achieved through the development of an interoperable platform and a robust decision-making toolbox that can be easily used by policy makers and advisory bodies who were involved in the design, development and operation of both the platform and the toolbox that are adaptive to their capacity, needs and data availability.
The EcoScope Platform and the EcoScope Toolbox, along with the novel ecosystem modelling approaches and scenario testing under uncertainty can be used to support integrated ecocentric management commensurate with safeguarding economic viability, within the policies and directives of the EU. The specific objectives of EcoScope had been designed to fulfil the requirements of the Common Fisheries Policy, and the Blue Growth Strategy while also aiming to achieve Good Environmental Status for the descriptors of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which all require an ecosystem-based approach. The main outputs of EcoScope are fully aligned with the EU Green Deal, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive.
EcoScope project developed an interoperable platform, a robust decision-making toolbox , a series of online courses and a card tabletop game, a special fisheries edition of the marine spatial planning challenge simulation platform, and a mobile application and produced several other side output including a series of ecosystem models, stock and marine ecosystem assessments, socio-economic and value chain analyses, and examined management, policy and climate scenarios under uncertainty.
The EcoScope Platform is a novel, modular, interdisciplinary e-tool integrating met-ocean, biogeochemical, environmental, biological, fisheries, and socio-economic datasets, covering all European Seas, organised and homogenized into a common standard type and format. Through the EcoScope Platform, complex ecosystem functions and interrelations between abiotic-biotic and human components are revealed and their spatiotemporal variability can be assessed and visualised.
The EcoScope Toolbox , a scoring system that hosts ecosystem models, socio-economic indicators, and fisheries and ecosystem assessment tools can be used to assess fisheries and ecosystems using an array of indicators. The EcoScope Toolbox integrates two components: the Fisheries Index for Sustainable Harvesting (FISH), which tracks indicators of fishing pressure, stock status, trophic dynamics, and ecosystem overfishing and the Marine Ecosystem Scoring Index (MESSI), which incorporates biodiversity, habitat, and socio-economic factors.
EcoScope Academy, the educational pillar of the project, includes a series of online courses and sophisticated capacity building tools, such as documentary films, webinars, and games, and is freely available to scientists, decision-makers, and other stakeholders. A card tabletop game Fish n’ Ships – Aegean Sea version was developed to teach marine sustainability and ecosystem dynamics in an engaging yet scientifically robust way.
A next generation planning support system dedicated to sustainable fisheries management in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (MSP Challenge simulation platform) was developed launching a new tool on fisheries management to help decision-makers, stakeholders, and students understand and manage the maritime (blue) economy and marine environment. MSP Challenge simulation platform is a multi-user serious/simulation game with interactive simulations in which users/players take on the role of planners and stakeholders.
A series of ecosystem ECOPATH base-models were developed in all case study areas, along with their temporal (ECOSIM) and spatio-temporal (ECOSPACE) components. Ecosystem models were performed using the EwE suite which formed the basis for testing and evaluating the various fisheries management and policy scenarios within the context of climate change.
The mobile phone application (EcoScope App) was designed as a participatory tool to engage regular citizens in marine protection interventions and serves as an open access tool for citizen science and data crowdsourcing that can be used to support scientific research and inform marine conservation programs at national and regional levels.
Overall, over 50 articles were published in international peer reviewed journals and over 100 other results were included in conference proceedings, books chapters and other dissemination activities. EcoScope organised and edited two collective volumes, two stakeholder workshops, three (internal) ecosystem modelling workshops and three stock assessment workshops and co-organised thee international conferences. It also produced two short documentary films on ecosystem based fisheries management. Finally, and perhaps most important of all, EcoScope supported (partly or fully) ten PhD theses.
The EcoScope Platform is a novel, modular, interdisciplinary e-tool integrating met-ocean, biogeochemical, environmental, biological, fisheries, and socio-economic datasets, covering all European Seas, organised and homogenized into a common standard type and format. Through the EcoScope Platform, complex ecosystem functions and interrelations between abiotic-biotic and human components are revealed and their spatiotemporal variability can be assessed and visualised.
The EcoScope Toolbox , a scoring system that hosts ecosystem models, socio-economic indicators, and fisheries and ecosystem assessment tools can be used to assess fisheries and ecosystems using an array of indicators. The EcoScope Toolbox integrates two components: the Fisheries Index for Sustainable Harvesting (FISH), which tracks indicators of fishing pressure, stock status, trophic dynamics, and ecosystem overfishing and the Marine Ecosystem Scoring Index (MESSI), which incorporates biodiversity, habitat, and socio-economic factors.
EcoScope Academy, the educational pillar of the project, includes a series of online courses and sophisticated capacity building tools, such as documentary films, webinars, and games, and is freely available to scientists, decision-makers, and other stakeholders. A card tabletop game Fish n’ Ships – Aegean Sea version was developed to teach marine sustainability and ecosystem dynamics in an engaging yet scientifically robust way.
A next generation planning support system dedicated to sustainable fisheries management in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (MSP Challenge simulation platform) was developed launching a new tool on fisheries management to help decision-makers, stakeholders, and students understand and manage the maritime (blue) economy and marine environment. MSP Challenge simulation platform is a multi-user serious/simulation game with interactive simulations in which users/players take on the role of planners and stakeholders.
A series of ecosystem ECOPATH base-models were developed in all case study areas, along with their temporal (ECOSIM) and spatio-temporal (ECOSPACE) components. Ecosystem models were performed using the EwE suite which formed the basis for testing and evaluating the various fisheries management and policy scenarios within the context of climate change.
The mobile phone application (EcoScope App) was designed as a participatory tool to engage regular citizens in marine protection interventions and serves as an open access tool for citizen science and data crowdsourcing that can be used to support scientific research and inform marine conservation programs at national and regional levels.
Overall, over 50 articles were published in international peer reviewed journals and over 100 other results were included in conference proceedings, books chapters and other dissemination activities. EcoScope organised and edited two collective volumes, two stakeholder workshops, three (internal) ecosystem modelling workshops and three stock assessment workshops and co-organised thee international conferences. It also produced two short documentary films on ecosystem based fisheries management. Finally, and perhaps most important of all, EcoScope supported (partly or fully) ten PhD theses.
EcoScope employed advanced statistical, programming and modelling methods for commercial and non-commercial species assessmentsand marine ecosystem assessments, used several community and ecosystem indicators and developed two novel sustainability scoring systems. It incorporated for the first time uncertainty and deep uncertainty into the temporal and spatial components of ecosystem modelling. It developed and demonstrated practical e-tools for assessing ecological risk and vulnerability in marine systems exposed to climate change and fishing pressure. Ecoscope employed for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea energyscapes for predicting the biomass and abundance of top predators
A key component of the EcoScope project was active and continuous engagement and input by relevant stakeholders. The EcoScope tools are intended for a wide range of users from decision-makers, regulators and advisory bodies to NGOs, scientists, fishers, and others interested in exploring different full ecosystem management options. EcoScope strived to co-develop the EcoScope tools with end-users and stakeholders by actively involving them in the design and development of the tools.
Since the beginning of the project, EcoScope performed key stakeholder engagement activities, in which stakeholders were asked to provide substantive feedback on the ongoing design and elaboration of the EcoScope e-tools. These stakeholder engagement events are highly valuable for the development of the tools and have provided important insights into key topics and issues to be considered during the project implementation and beyond it.
The interested stakeholders and end-users formed the Stakeholder Knowledge Exchange Forum that included all stakeholders who registered for it through the EcoScope portal. This Forum has been a responsive and flexible tool to involve stakeholders in working groups at any level (local, national, international) as needs arose.
A key component of the EcoScope project was active and continuous engagement and input by relevant stakeholders. The EcoScope tools are intended for a wide range of users from decision-makers, regulators and advisory bodies to NGOs, scientists, fishers, and others interested in exploring different full ecosystem management options. EcoScope strived to co-develop the EcoScope tools with end-users and stakeholders by actively involving them in the design and development of the tools.
Since the beginning of the project, EcoScope performed key stakeholder engagement activities, in which stakeholders were asked to provide substantive feedback on the ongoing design and elaboration of the EcoScope e-tools. These stakeholder engagement events are highly valuable for the development of the tools and have provided important insights into key topics and issues to be considered during the project implementation and beyond it.
The interested stakeholders and end-users formed the Stakeholder Knowledge Exchange Forum that included all stakeholders who registered for it through the EcoScope portal. This Forum has been a responsive and flexible tool to involve stakeholders in working groups at any level (local, national, international) as needs arose.