Vectors of change (VECTORS) (38907)

Project Details

Description

Marine life makes a substantial contribution to the economy and society of Europe.

VECTORS aimed at elucidating the drivers, pressures and vectors that cause change in marine life, the mechanisms by which they do so, the impacts that they have on ecosystem structures and functioning, and on the economics of associated marine sectors and society.

VECTORS particularly focused on causes and consequences of invasive alien species, outbreak forming species, and changes in fish distribution and productivity. New and existing knowledge and insight was synthesized and integrated to project changes in marine life, ecosystems and economies under future scenarios for adaptation and mitigation in the light of new technologies, fishing strategies and policy needs.

VECTORS also evaluated current forms and mechanisms of marine governance in relation to the vectors of change.

Based on its findings, VECTORS outlined solutions and tools for relevant stakeholders and policymakers during the lifetime of the project.

The VECTORS consortium included a mixture of natural scientists with knowledge of socio-economic aspects, and social scientists (environmental economists, policy and governance analysts and environmental law specialists) with interests in natural system functioning.

DTU Aqua contributed to VECTORS by developing new statistical models of fish species distributions, by further developing spatially resolved bio-economic models of fishing, and by analyzing fish species richness and distribution in the north Atlantic and the general relationship between changes in fish stock abundance and distribution area. We coordinated the Baltic WP where we implemented the ATLANTIS end-to-end model and performed initial scenario testing. We also analyzed the most important drivers of fish population dynamics in the Baltic, and contributed to the study of invasive species.

VECTORS comprised a total of 37 European Universities, research institutions and professional associations dealing with applied maritime and marine research.

The project included marine environmental scientists, fisheries scientists, conservation biologists, sociologists and economists from across the European scientific community providing expertise in marine ecosystems, management, fisheries, maritime transport, tourism and coastal development.

The project was coordinated by Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK and funded by EU, Framework Programme 7.

Research area: Ecosystem based Marine Management
Research area: Fisheries Management
Research area: Marine Living Resources
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date01/01/201131/01/2015

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