Report of the Workshop on operational EwE models to inform IEAs (WKEWIEA)

The first Workshop on operational EwE models to inform IEAs (WKEWIEA) met from the 26th to the 30th of November 2018 in Barcelona, chaired by Maciej T. Tomczak (Sweden), Maria Angeles Torres (Spain) and Eider Andonegi (Spain). The main goal of WKEWIEA was to identify, analyse and provide light on the potential use of ecosystem models to inform the scientific advice currently provided by ICES. The workshop focused on Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) models as accepted by the ICES Secretariat, since EwE is the most widely used ecosystem modelling tool across ICES integrated ecosystem assessments (IEA) regional groups.

The group was composed by a variety of experts, including ecosystem modellers, ecosystem researchers and people closely related with or with a deep knowledge of the ICES advisory process (people that actively participate in providing advice on fishing opportunities and also in fisheries and ecosystem overviews).