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WESTERN GRAY WHALE ADVISORY PANEL 1st Meeting WGWAP 1/INF.21 13 October 2006 WORKING WITH OTHER GROUPS The North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) Submitted by IUCN 1 OVERVIEW PICES, the North Pacific Marine Science Organization, is an intergovernmental scientific organization that was established and held its first meetings in 1992. Its present members are Canada, People's Republic of China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, and the United States of America. The purposes of the Organization are as follows: • Promote and coordinate marine research in the northern North Pacific and adjacent seas especially northward of 30 degrees North • Advance scientific knowledge about the ocean environment, global weather and climate change, living resources and their ecosystems, and the impacts of human activities • Promote the collection and rapid exchange of scientific information on these issues • Representatives of Canada, China, Japan, the United States and the Soviet Union initialed the draft convention. The Organization is established by Convention for a North Pacific Marine Science Organization, which came into force on 24 March 1992 after ratification by three of the five in signatory states, Canada, Japan, and the United States. The Peoples Republic of China ratified before August of 1992 and participated as a member in the First Annual Meeting, in October of that year. Although the Soviet Union had participated in all of the intergovernmental discussions leading up to establishment of PICES, the now Russian Federation did not ratify until December of 1994; Korea became a member in mid-summer 1995. 2 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE The organization reports to a Governing Council which has both scientific and administrative functions. Currently the organization includes a science board and six committees presently working on PICES projects: • BIO - Biological Oceanography Committee • FIS - Fishery Science Committee • MEQ - Marine Environmental Quality Committee -1- • POC - Physical Oceanography and Climate Committee • TCODE - Technical Committee on Data Exchange • MONITOR - Technical Committee on Monitoring The organization has also established numerous subsidiary bodies focused on specific issues. These bodies include Working Groups, Study Groups and Advisory Panels. Annex I provides details of all active subsidiary scientific bodies. 3 CURRENT PROJECTS PICES currently has six projects running • Live euphasiid experimental protocol (2006) • Bering Sea Indicators (2006) • North Pacific Ecosystem Status Report (complete 2005) • North Pacific Ecosystem Metadatabase • The Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey of the North Pacific • The PICES Carbon Dioxide Related Data Integration for the North Pacific (PICNIC) • The PICES Intern Program 4 MEETINGS Meetings PICES holds many events every year; the biggest regular event is the Annual Meeting, where a number of scientific topic sessions and workshops are held, and where all levels of official PICES "groups" have meetings. Then there are also other large international symposia on specific themes that PICES often co-sponsors with other major international organizations and scientific programs. There are also special workshops organized or co-sponsored by PICES' Task Teams and Working Groups to help explore their terms of reference Further information on the organization can be found at http://www.pices.int. -2- ANNEX 1 LIST OF MEMBER GROUPS Active Groups • • • Governing Council Finance and Administration Committee Science Board Active Scientific Committees • • • • • • Biological Oceanography Committee Fishery Science Committee Marine Environment Quality Committee Physical Oceanography and Climate Committee Technical Committee on Data Exchange Technical Committee on Monitoring Active Working Groups • • • • Mariculture in the 21st century – The intersection between ecology, socioeconomics and production Ecosystem-based management science and its application to the North Pacific Working Group on "Evaluations of Climate Change Projections Non-indigenous Aquatic Species Active Sections • • Harmful Algal Blooms Section Section on Carbon and Climate Active Study Groups • • • PICES Rules of Procedure and Financial Regulations Future Integrative Scientific Program(s) Study Group to develop a strategy for GOOS Active Scientific Programs • Climate Change and Carrying Capacity Scientific Program Active Task Teams • • Conceptual / Theoretical and Modeling Studies Task Team Climate Forcing and Marine Ecosystem Response Task Team Active Advisory Panels • • • • • • Advisory Panel on Continuous Plankton Recorder Program Advisory Panel on Iron Fertilization Experiment Advisory Panel on Marine Birds and Mammals Advisory Panel on Micronekton Sampling Inter-Calibration Experiment Advisory Panel on North Pacific Data Buoy Advisory Panel for a CREAMS/PICES Program in East Asian Marginal Seas -3-