Common Links

Partners

The main aim of the ECOST project is to develop a new approach to assess the societal cost of fishing activities to the ecosystem. By societal cost we mean all costs linked to fishing activities: these may be ecological (alteration of the capacity of a system), economic (all costs linked to production, management, subsidies, and external factors), social (linked to choices made in public policy, food safety, provision for national or international markets, the eradication of poverty, and to development models (small scale fishing versus industrial fishing)).
The geographical dimension of the work is spread over 3 continents (3 countries for each continent) which are characterized respectively by ecosystems of coastal upwelling (West Africa), delta (South East Asia) and coral reef (Caribbean). Within each region/ecosystem (eco-region) several fisheries have been selected as representative of global fishing activities. Furthermore, a marine protected area will be chosen in order to establish comparative analysis within the said eco-region, and to serve as a reference point.
The programme is organised into nine work packages (WP), each one sanctioned by the delivery of a product which marks a stage in the development process of the evaluation method for the impact made by fishing activities. The common ground for all of the work packages is the development of a method for a greater and more complete understanding of the ecological, economic and social incidence of fishing activities in the various eco-regions.

FishBase is a relational database with information to cater to different professionals such as research scientists, fisheries managers, zoologists and many more. FishBase on the web contains practically all fish species known to science.

The objective of INCOFISH is to conduct specifically targeted strategic research suitable to contribute to the goals set by the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, such as restoring healthy fish stocks and ecosystems by 2015. The Project is coordinated by the Leibniz Institut für Meereswissenschaften, Kiel, Germany. The tools and concepts resulting from INCOFISH research will be tested in real-world scenarios in selected coastal systems worldwide. They will together form a package with the potential to impact on solving societal problems in the coastal zone in Europe and in developing countries. All data and tools will be available online.

The PASARELAS network, funded by DG Research's INCO programme, had its first public meeting in Corti, Corse, in July. During a full week summer school, it focussed on economic development, environment and spatial aspects, with due emphasis given to methodological aspects of uncertainty, stakeholder participation, co-evolution and other elements of post-normal sustainability science.