International Workshop on Modelling Environmental Interactions of Mariculture
Third Announcement and Final Call for Papers
The ICES Working Group on Environmental Interactions of Mariculture is
organizing a Modelling Workshop which will be held at the Bedford Institute of
Oceanography, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, 6-8
September 1995, chaired by Drs W. Silvert and B. T. Hargrave of the Habitat
Science Division. The objective of the Workshop is to bring together
researchers actively involved in the development of models of mariculture
interactions in order to identify and compare different approaches to modelling
the environmental interactions of mariculture, and to evaluate performance,
application and cost-effectiveness
of these models. The focus is on finfish interactions in light of the fact
that the ICES Shellfish Committee will be organizing a similar meeting in 1996,
but some relevant papers dealing with shellfish culture will be included.
The Workshop is centred around models that deal with four topics: Effluents,
Dispersal, Effects, and Implementation. These are defined as follows:
- Effluents:
- Production of particulate and dissolved effluents by cultured
marine organisms. These calculations are generally based on physiological
models. We hope to reach a consensus on the modelling of effluents from common
species such as Atlantic salmon.
- Dispersal:
- Physical transport of effluents from a farm into the water column
and sediments, including processes such as flushing, sedimentation and
resuspension.
- Effects:
- Environmental effects that these wastes generate in the environment,
such as changes in primary production due to nutrification and turbidity, or
changes in benthic conditions.
- Implementation:
- Use and presentation of models in a management framework. This
can include the use of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and expert systems, as
well as protocols for the use of models in environmental impact assessment for
mariculture operations.
It is expected that all participants will be knowledgable about modelling
mariculture interactions and will be prepared to participate in and contribute
to technical discussions on this topic. The workshop will include quantitative
comparison of different models in order to identify any significant
discrepancies and to identify under which circumstances each model is
applicable.
In order to permit free and frank interaction, the Workshop will be limited to
about 30 or 40 active researchers. Based on the responses to date it appears
that the number of participants will be close to 30, so there is still space
for latecomers. Still, we ask that potential participants make their interest
known as soon as possible. Anyone interested in attending should contact the
organizing committee at the address below as soon as possible with an
indication of what their modelling interests and experience are and whether
they are interested in presenting a paper, poster, or demonstration. Early
submissions will receive preference in scheduling. We plan to carry out
quantitative comparisons of different models during the Workshop, so we are
hoping that most of the participants will be able to bring a version in a form
that can be run.
The organizers of the Workshop will produce a report in the form of a detailed
document that can be used as a basis for future model development. An ICES
Theme Session entitled Mariculture: Understanding Environmental
Interactions is scheduled for the Annual Meeting in Denmark 21-29 September
1995, and an informal report on the Workshop will be presented at that time.
We would also like to publish at least some of the individual presentations
from the Workshop, but because we want to cover state-of-the-art techniques
including work in progress, we do not intend to go through the processes of
peer review and publication in a primary journal, so any such publication would
be in the form of a technical report that would come out very soon after the
Workshop. We would also like to make as much of the material as possible
available over the Internet for use by the international scientific
community.
If you are interested in participating in this workshop, please contact the
organizers as soon as possible:
EIM Workshop
Habitat Ecology Section
Habitat Science Division
Bedford Institute of Oceanography
P. O. Box 1006
Dartmouth, N. S.
Canada B2Y 4A2
Fax: (902)426-6695
Email: EIM-Workshop@Scotia.DFO.CA