With a kick-off meeting on 7 and 8 May 2019 at the Thünen Institute for Sea Fisheries in Bremerhaven the project SeaUseTip officially started. It deals with the spatial-temporal analysis of tipping points in the socio-ecological system of the North Sea, the focus being on the fish community. Its vulnerability to profound changes, e.g. as a result of progressive climate change, has far-reaching consequences for ecosystems, fisheries and society.
Over the next three years, scientists at the Thünen Institute, the University of Hamburg and the Helmholtz Centre Geesthacht will pool their expertise to take a holistic view of the ecological, economic and socio-cultural subsystems. Using complex models and diverse analytical methods, they aim to uncover possible tipping points, identify vulnerabilities and adaptability, and develop strategies and instruments for sustainable ecosystem-based management.
The first project meeting with the consortium and the scientific advisory board was followed by a joint workshop with stakeholders from fisheries, industry, administration and nature conservation. In the course of this workshop, the participants identified important topics which are now being incorporated into the scientific work.
The project is funded under the international and interdisciplinary funding programme "EcoBiological Tipping Points (BioTip)" of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
