ESSAS - Ecosystem Studies of Subarctic and Arctic Seas

“Linking past and present marine ecosystems to inform future fisheries and aquaculture”

Ecosystem Studies of Subarctic and Arctic Seas (ESSAS), one of the regional programs of the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research project (IMBeR). The goal of the ESSAS Program is to compare, quantify and predict the impact of climate variability on the productivity and sustainability of Subarctic and Arctic marine ecosystems. Although the ESSAS Annual Science Meeting (ASM) scheduled in July 2020 had to be canceled due to COVID-19, the 2021 ASM will be held as a webinar (web seminar) style meeting.

Both academic communities and local stakeholders in Hokkaido are interested in how Arctic and sub-Arctic marine systems will change in the future. Of relevance to these concerns is information from the natural and social sciences, including economics. The 2021 ESSAS ASM will build on a previous international project funded by the Belmont Forum, which examined the resilience and adaptive capacity of Arctic and sub-Arctic marine systems. We seek to understand the mechanisms by which climate change will affect aquaculture and capture fisheries, how these changes will affect resource-dependent communities, and how management can foster resilience in these systems.

• Deadline for abstract submission: 15 March, 2021
• Deadline for registration on the website: 30 April, 2021
• Registration fee: Free