VECTORS Fact sheet series

Project overviewVECTORS

Contact

Project coordinator: Mel Austen Project manager: Jenny Lockett

VECTORS Project Office

Coordinated by Plymouth Marine Laboratory vectors@pml.ac.uk, www.marine-vectors.eu

VECTORS

Vectors of change in European Marine Ecosystems and their Environmental

and Socio-Economic Impacts

The VECTORS project seeks to develop integrated, multidisciplinary research-based understanding of changes taking place in our marine environment, the mechanisms for them and the ecological impacts expected from them. VECTORS will examine how these changes may affect the range of goods and services provided by the oceans, the ensuing socio-economic impacts and some of the measures that could be developed to reduce or adapt to these changes.

The understanding developed through VECTORS will contribute the information and knowledge required to inform the development and implementation of forthcoming strategies, policies regional seas conventions, management bodies and regulations such as the:• IMO International Convention for

the control and management of ships’ ballast water and sediments

• EU Maritime Policy• EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

To ensure benefits of VECTORS will be far reaching, all research-based knowledge, expertise and skills gathered through the project will be disseminated to potential stakeholders e.g. policy makers, conservation and user groups, management bodies, public health, tourism, and renewable energy, at a European, national and regional level (WP7).

Increasing and diversifying human use of the European marine environment is causing a growth in the range of interacting pressures impacting upon our seas. These pressures, from long standing uses such as transport, fishing and discharges and more recently from new energy devices, are compounded by environmental changes, including climate change. This ceaseless exploitation of the sea has led to new and challenging changes in the marine environment including: species outbreaks, invasive alien species and changes in fish and shellfish productivity and distribution.

The VECTORS project seeks to develop integrated, multidisciplinary research-based understanding of these changes, the mechanisms for them and the ecological impacts expected from them.

VECTORS will examine how these changes may affect the range of goods and services provided by the oceans, the ensuing socio-economic impacts and some of the measures that could be developed to reduce or adapt to these changes. In this sense, the project is therefore focused on the Ecosystem Approach in the strictest sense in which humans are an integral part of the ecosystem. The project views that the overall aim of marine management is to deliver goods and services for the social and economic benefit of society while at the same time maintaining, enhancing and protecting the supporting ecological properties and functions.

VECTORS will also develop a common, spatially-explicit cross-sector model framework (sensu ATLANTIS) which will link all of the key research within VECTORS. A further goal is to produce regular synthesis reports of the project’s progress and results. The implications of the project’s findings will be summarised and disseminated to the policy-maker and stakeholder audience.

The project is comprised of seven Work Packages (WPs) and focuses on three regional sea case study areas; the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the western Mediterranean. For each of these seas VECTORS aims to: identify the main pressures being experienced (WP1), develop a mechanistic understanding of the underlying processes causing change (WP2), evaluate the implications of change (WP3), integrate information and data across sectors into a common modelling framework (WPs 2-5), and project future changes to the ecosystem, its goods and services as well as the corresponding social and economic consequences (WP5 and 6).

VECTORS will address a complex array of interests comprising different aspects of marine life and ecosystem changes, sectoral economic interests, regional seas, and academic disciplines as well as the interests of stakeholders.

» An essential feature of VECTORS is the involvement of sectoral and regional seas stakeholders who are likely to benefit from, use or be affected by the findings of the project. A Reference User Group (RUG) provides an effective mechanism for cooperative working and report review. The RUG provides insights into the relevance of the project objectives and results to different stakeholders, so helping to shape the development of the project and ensure the applicability of outcomes.

» A panel of independent senior experts form a Research Advisory Board (RAB) which provides guidance to VECTORS on aspects of the research, its integration across disciplines and the dissemination of results.

» VECTORS is a 4 year project which was launched on 1st February 2011. » VECTORS is an EU Funded ‘Ocean of Tomorrow’ project.

Map of Europe showing the locations of the 38 VECTORS partners (from 16 countries) and the three regional seas; the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the western

Mediterranean which are used as case study areas for the project.

Changing seas

Overview

Key points

V1: Feb 2013

VECTORSVECTORS is a European project (26455) supported within Themes 2, 5, 6 and 7 of the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme

Further informationFor further information contact the VECTORS Project Office,

vectors@pml.ac.uk or see the VECTORS website: www.marine-vectors.eu

The western basin of the Mediterranean is a sub - temperate sea with a surface area of 850,000 km2. Most human activities (tourism, maritime transport, fisheries) take place in the coastal zone and narrow continental shelves. In addition to the large population density along the coast, demand for resources significantly increases seasonally as the Mediterranean is one of the world’s premier tourist destinations.

VECTORS research in the Mediterranean combines observation, experimentation and modelling in order to understand the main drivers of change (proliferations of native and alien species, tourism, fisheries, and climate change) and their interactions. Current VECTORS research in the Mediterranean includes to:

» examine how the sustainability of fisheries for small pelagic fish (sardine and anchovy) is being threatened by excessive fishing capacity, climate change and the proliferation of jellyfish which prey on the early life phases of fish,

» determine how rises in sea temperature affect the spatial distribution of fish,

» study how native fish and invertebrates are being displaced by alien species.

The annual swarming of Rhopilema nomadica, an invasive jellyfish in the Mediterranean, is affecting trawl fisheries, swimmers and coastal installations depending on marine intakes. Photograph: Shevy Rothman, Tel Aviv University, 27 June 2012.

Western Mediterranean

The Baltic Sea is one of the largest brackish water areas in the world, with a surface area of about 420,000 km2 and a mean depth of only 60 m. The sea is situated in the transition area of the Atlantic marine and Eurasian continental climate systems, which determines its hydroclimatic conditions. The most essential are salinity and temperature, both of which have significant gradients. Overfishing, eutrophication, and the drastic decline of marine mammals have been the most prominent changes in the Baltic Sea during the twentieth century. The Baltic Sea underwent a major ecological regime shift in the late 1980s.

VECTORS research activities in the Baltic Sea include analysis of long-term datasets, together with experiments on invasive alien species, and ecosystem hind- and forecast modelling. Some examples of these activities include to:

» identify the contribution of alien species to ecosystem change and evaluate ecological impacts,

» describe potential effects of reoxygenation on the fate and bioavailability of hazardous substances that are of concern for human fish consumption,

» perform integrated ecosystem assessments, including against the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan.

Cod (Gadus morhua) - a native fish species in the Baltic Sea. Photograph: Jonne Kotta, EMI-UT.

Baltic Sea

The North Sea, with a surface area of 750,000 km2, represents one of the most challenging areas world - wide in projecting the ecosystem consequences of multiple anthropogenic pressures arising from various economic sectors. The area has some of the busiest shipping routes, multiple fishing fleets, active exploitation of renewable energy, as well as unique habitats set aside for conservation.

VECTORS research in the North Sea includes case studies examining the ecological, economic and societal/governance issues surrounding the effects of climate, fishing, shipping, renewable energy, aggregate extraction, alien invasive and outbreak forming species, conservation and eutrophication. Tools applied include field surveys, controlled experiments and spatially-explicit models of food webs as well as fishing fleets. VECTORS results are considered across the North Sea and within specific regions such as the English Channel, Dogger Bank, and the southern North Sea coastal margins. Atlantis models are being developed to include management strategy evaluation frameworks. Research questions include to:

» investigate how climate change will affect species distribution and productivity and the economic consequences of those changes,

» explore the economic and ecological consequences of an expanding renewable energy sector, » evaluate the role of invasive species in the food web dynamics of different North Sea habitats, » define the ecological, economic and societal costs and trade-offs of areas set aside for conservation.

Renewable energy in the North Sea.

North Sea