Read the sixth MARCIS Newsletter for project progress and highlights.
Dear reader,
The last year has been a very busy time for all NINA bird researchers participating in the MARCIS project Amongst other things, we have been working on the modelling and analysis of individual sensitivity to the different stressors, and the population analysis to provide impact weights for the app. These tasks are resource-demanding and rely on deliverables from each other since they are highly interlinked. Several publications are underway, some under second revision and will be published soon, and others are soon to be submitted for publishing. Publications cover LCA analysis of migratory birds' sensitivity to Offshore Wind developments in the North Sea, Individual based modelling as an approach to assess seabirds' sensitivity to stressors in the non-breeding season, ocean warming effects on seabirds' demography and year-round distribution, and the impact of fishery competition on seabirds. Several MARCIS researchers and both MARCIS post docs also gave presentations at the Conference on Wind energy and Wildlife impacts last September.
Most of you will also have received the information that our annual stakeholder meeting has been postponed from March until autumn. Information about the time and place for the meeting will be sent out later. MARCIS is an ambitious project, and because of different challenges related to modelling and execution of different project tasks, there have been some significant delays in some of the project deliverables which are needed in the MARCIS App (e.g. impact weights for all species). Most of these issues have been resolved but have resulted in delays which mean that the App would not have been in a state of development that is required for us to have a fruitful stakeholder meeting, where the testing of the App was going to be the focus. We are now en route to having the MARCIS app ready for testing in the autumn. We then hope you will use the MARCIS app in earnest and be able to assess the areas with high and low cumulative impacts on seabirds. We hope that this new plan is a good approach for everyone!
In early February we had the first MARCIS lunch and learn (L&L) of the year, where Torjus Haukvik from the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate talked about his work with the management of marine areas and evaluation processes related to offshore wind. He also talked about how he views the potential of the MARCIS tool in the future management of marine areas. The knowledge gained via the MARCIS project is an important part of NINA’s deliverables to the strategic impact assessments that NVE is responsible for, and it is good to see the potential for the use of MARCIS results in practise. The second MARCIS Lunch and Learn was held later in February. Mette Skern-Mauritzen from the Institute of Marine Research and the Forum for Integrated Ocean Management presented a CIA tool based on the ODEMM approach that is under development for marine ecosystems in the three Norwegian ocean areas. We discussed how the MARCIS tool can be linked to this ecosystem tool and see great opportunities for collaboration. It was interesting and useful to hear perspectives from our project partners and potential users of the MARCIS app!
In the upcoming L&Ls 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.