Ecopath 35 Years

Welcome

The “Ecopath 35 years – Making Ecosystem-Based Management Operational” conference and workshops was held in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA, during December 4 to 11, 2019, and showcased thirtyfive years of progress using the Ecopath approach in different fields: fisheries management, marine conservation, ecosystem dynamics, climate impacts, and ecosystem-based management (EBM), as well as to introduce exciting new facilities of the approach. The gathering was an international scientific reunion on ecosystem modelling based on the Ecopath and Ecosim modelling framework and software (www.ecopath.org).

We especially welcomed contributions that demonstrated progress on making EBM operational. This included studies/projects that brought ecosystem modelling to the fora where management and policy decisions are made. Fisheries management can be part of that, but the aim is the ecosystem, and with it processes that focus on the spectra of activities that are of importance for management of ecosystems (be they marine, freshwater or terrestrial). It's about ecosystem-based management.

The Ecopath 35 years was hosted by the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in cooperation with College of Marine Science, University of South Florida.

The conference and courses/workshops were arranged under the auspices of the Ecopath Research and Development Consortium, the official cooperative body that oversees the EwE development and cooperation. A total of 110 attended the conference and courses.

The schedule for the conference and training courses was:

• Tuesday, Dec 3, 5-7 PM: Registration.
• Wednesday, Dec. 4 to Friday, Dec. 6: Conference
• Saturday, Dec. 7 at 17.30: Ecopath Consortium General Assembly
• Saturday, Dec. 7 to Wednesday, Dec. 11: Advanced courses (parallel sessions)
• Sunday, Dec. 9 - Tuesday, Dec. 10: Introductory EwE course

We thank you for your participation.

The Ecopath 35 Years Organizing Committee

Villy Christensen & Kristy Lewis