Read the fifth MARCIS Newsletter for project progress and highlights.
Dear reader,
The annual MARCIS stakeholder and project meetings were held on the 18th and 19th of March at the Framsenter in Tromsø. It was very nice to meet in person and on teams with so many of our project participants! We had very fruitful discussions and received valuable input that we can take with us in our work. The main themes of the meetings were to show and discuss MARCIS App functionality, clarify expectations, and plan for the upcoming work in 2024. We are now more than halfway through the project period, and we are starting to see the contours of the app and how it can function as a tool to identify cumulative impact of climate and marine industry on seabirds. It is good to hear from the group discussions that the MARCIS app is seen as useful. We are currently working on a summary report from the stakeholder meeting which we will be sharing with everyone shortly.
Although a lot of the work in MARCIS is about the development of the MARCIS app, we also do a lot of valuable scientific work to increase the knowledge of how different stressors affect seabirds, including the cumulative impact of several stressors. It is therefore good to see all the plans for scientific publications that all the hardworking scientists are planning in the next months. Impacts of climate, fishery and offshore wind farms on seabirds, in addition to the identification of vulnerable migratory bird groups and migratory corridors are some of the topics we are working on now.
MARCIS relies heavily on data from SEATRACK and SEAPOP, and in many ways, you could say that the outcome of MARCIS is a product of these programmes. The MARCIS app can provide a tool to identify cumulative impact on seabirds and can therefore be seen as a solution-oriented tool to inform about seabirds in governmental planning processes, as well as providing knowledge for advisors and NGOs. It was reassuring to hear from some of the stakeholders that by using data from SEAPOP and SEATRACK, MARCIS is trustworthy. In addition, we hope that SEAPOP and SEARACK see the value of using the data in this very applied way.
Collaboration between science, industry, management and NGOs is key to ensure that the MARCIS tool will be a valuable and standardized tool. After the success of the MARCIS Lunch and learn (L&L) series in 2023 and earlier this year, we will continue to organise these seminars for all interested project participants in 2024. We appreciate and hope that you all will continue to provide good input to the further development of the project and the MARCIS tool by taking part in the L&L meetings. Past L&Ls have included topics such as individual-level sensitivity to marine stressors using agent-based modelling, population level- effects through demographic modelling and how MARCIS calculates sensitivity weights with population modelling, spatial life-cycle impact analyses, the Halpern formula which is being used in MARCIS to calculate cumulative impact, and visualization in the MARCIS App. In the upcoming seminars we will be presenting more on ongoing and published work but would also like to use this time to have informal discussions about topics that project participants are interested in, as well as to hear about the different challenges and needs that stakeholders are facing. If you would like to contribute to a L&L or have any suggestions for topics that you are interested in discussing further, please do get in touch with us!
Best wishes,
Tone Kristin Reiertsen (MARCIS project leader)
Feel free to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and ResearchGate! The MARCIS logo and project flyer can be used at conferences and meetings where the project and its results are being presented. You will also find a Q&A and a glossary on the MARCIS website which provides answers to questions asked in the MARCIS Lunch and learn seminar series, and definitions to some commonly used terms in the project.