• Energy Research

Abstract The “Symposium on Decadal Variability of the North Atlantic and its Marine Ecosystems: 2010–2019” took place in Bergen, Norway, from 20 to 22 May 2022. This event, hosted by the Institute of Marine Research, was jointly sponsored by ICES and NAFO and constitutes the fourth in a series of these symposia that started in 1991. The first symposium’s aim was to review the hydrobiological variability in the decade of the 1980s, addressing the physical environment, plankton, invertebrates, and fish. Subsequent symposia maintained the classical structure, whilst a new theme session covering social sciences was added to the programme in the 2022 edition. Studies of climate impacts on marine ecosystems and living marine resources, including trends and regime shifts, emerged from increasingly longer ecosystem time series across the North Atlantic and subarctic regions. This symposium collection presents key findings discussed during the symposium. Whilst some progress has been made in advancing our ability to understand new trends and patterns of climate change and variability across physical, plankton, and fish communities, more work is needed to integrate these physical-ecological processes and scales with social science.

The biodiversity of marine and coastal habitats is experiencing unprecedented change. While there are well-known drivers of these changes, such as overexploitation, climate change and pollution, there are also relatively unknown emerging issues that are poorly understood or recognized that have potentially positive or negative impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems. In this inaugural Marine and Coastal Horizon Scan, we brought together 30 scientists, policymakers and practitioners with transdisciplinary expertise in marine and coastal systems to identify new issues that are likely to have a significant impact on the functioning and conservation of marine and coastal biodiversity over the next 5-10 years. Based on a modified Delphi voting process, the final 15 issues presented were distilled from a list of 75 submitted by participants at the start of the process. These issues are grouped into three categories: ecosystem impacts, for example the impact of wildfires and the effect of poleward migration on equatorial biodiversity; resource exploitation, including an increase in the trade of fish swim bladders and increased exploitation of marine collagens; and new technologies, such as soft robotics and new biodegradable products. Our early identification of these issues and their potential impacts on marine and coastal biodiversity will support scientists, conservationists, resource managers and policymakers to address the challenges facing marine ecosystems.