SOCIB and IEO hosted the kick-off meeting of the PANDORA project

SOCIB and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) host this week the kick-off meeting of the European research Project PANDORA - PAradigm for Novel Dynamic Oceanic Resource Assessments.

The project is coordinated by the Danish Technical University (DTU) and has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 773713. The project involves twenty five European institutions from both the scientific and industry sectors, from ten different countries and with case studies in five different European seas (North-western European Shelf, Bay of Biscay, Baltic, Mediterranean and North Sea). The project focus on improving current assessment models used to ensure the sustainability of marine resources targeted by European fisheries by incorporating new biological and environmental knowledge into the models including, for the first time, proprietary data sampled by fishers. 

SOCIB and IEO will provide operational oceanography tools and new biological knowledge on key species in the Mediterranean, to improve abundance indices and recruitment estimates used to manage these fisheries. The overall integration of environmental variability and new biological knowledge into fisheries sciences will have a direct impact on societal benefits and sustainability of marine living resources.

Specific Objectives of the PANDORA project
  1. Create more realistic assessments and projections of changes in fisheries resources by utilizing new biological knowledge (spatial patterns, environmental drivers, food-web interactions and density-dependence) including for the first time proprietary data sampled by fishers.
  2. Advice on how to secure long-term sustainability of EU fish stocks and elucidate tradeoffs between profitability and number of jobs in their fisheries fleets. Provide recommendations on how to stabilize the long-term profitability of European fisheries.
  3. Develop a public, internet-based resource tool box, including assessment modelling and stock projections code, economic models, and region- and species-specific decision support tools; increase ownership and contribution opportunities of the industry to the fish stock assessment process through involvement in data sampling and training in data collection, processing and ecosystem-based fisheries management. 

More information: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/214744_en.html