The International Council of the Exploration of the Sea’s (ICES) newly established ICES Science Fund is to support eight new projects.
“We received many diverse and interesting proposals but focused on projects that will add value to ICES Science Plan, are feasible, and engage both academic and government institutions. Scientists in the early stages of their career were given a preference in the selection process,” said Yvonne Walther, chair of ICES Science Committee (SCICOM).
The projects being supported are ‘100 years of Baltic Sea changes’, ‘Catch rate standardisation of fin-fishes targeted by the Galician (NW Spain) small-scale fishery’ and ‘Comparison of trophic control dynamics between two areas of the western European Shelf Seas, the Bay of Biscay and Gulf of Cadiz.
Also being supported are ‘Developing methods for determining a global footprint of mobile bottom fishing using VMS data’, ‘Holistic approach to analyse benthic fauna communities on the whole Baltic Sea (BSW)’, ‘Insights from Behavioural Economics to improve Fisheries Management’, ‘Social network analysis of ICES expert groups’ and ‘The molecular mechanisms and reversibility of fisheries-induced evolution - an experimental approach’.
“Making a selection was hard but the process used SCICOMs wide variety of expertise. What we are doing, in fact, is creating opportunities and leading ICES science into a certain direction in the future,” Ms Walther added.
All projects will have two partners, reflecting shared leadership between academic and government research institutions.
