The commercial fishing industry is an integral part of the Baltic Sea ecosystem. Neither management nor the assessments of stocks can function properly without being put in a broader ecosystem context.
Understanding the interactions with and within the ecosystem, and how fisheries fit in the bigger picture, is crucial for the future of Baltic fisheries. It is a great opportunity, and challenge, to use research and synthetize multidisciplinary information in communicating these complex ecosystem interactions to managers and other decision-makers.
I am a marine ecologist with a PhD in Oceanology from the Institute of Oceanology (Gdansk University), and Sea Fisheries Institute (Gdynia). Previously I worked at DTU-Aqua (Copenhagen) and Baltic Nest Institute (Stockholm University).
Since 15 years, I am highly involved in activities within the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), among other things co-chairing the ICES/HELCOM Working Group on Integrated Assessment of Baltic Sea.