Iliad Fish Forum 2024 workshop shows how Digital Twins of the Ocean help optimise fisheries
August 7th, 2024
The EU-funded Iliad project to develop a Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO) was showcased in a special workshop at the Forum on Fisheries Science in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea (Fish Forum 2024) – “Scaling up science for effective fisheries management” – held by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) 19–23 February 2024 in Antalya, Türkiye.
The workshop, titled “Smart tools and digital twins of the ocean: unlocking data access for evidence-based policymaking for sustainable fisheries management”, organised by SPA/RAC, AUA and FAO, focused on recent advancements made in ocean data and DTO applications within the fishery and aquaculture sectors.
The conference’s content, outcomes and conclusions are available online. The Fish Forum 2024 was successful in generating useful inputs and tools, helping “scale-up science” to address the sector’s real-world challenges, the organisers emphasised.
Participants learned how Iliad is piloting innovative fisheries-related solutions in the North Sea and the Black Sea, as well as aquaculture-related solutions. The workshop demonstrated that DTO can be used to support fishers by providing access to real-time ocean data and can assist in building climate change resilience and decarbonization within fisheries and aquaculture. Participants examined the scalability and adaptability of DTO applications for marine and coastal area management, as well as opportunities for future collaborations.
“Iliad DTO contribute to fisheries sustainability by introducing a valuable decision-making and policy compliance tool for multilayered governance,” the conference organisers summarised. “Iliad is a Horizon 2020 project that creates DTO by leveraging advanced technologies, data integration and modelling capabilities,” they noted.
The workshop provided an opportunity to discuss best practices in fisheries data collection and management of information, knowledge sharing, as well as ways to build trust with fishing communities and cooperate towards achieving sustainable fisheries and ocean protection.
The workshop included demonstrations from eral Iliad ILIADDTO Pilots led by: ILVO, TERRASIGNA, and BLB, followed by valuable testimonials from DTO end-users such as fishing fleet operators, public authorities, and international organisations.
“Timely and reliable data and information are key to supporting the ecosystem approach to fisheries implementation. With exponential development of information technology (IT) tools and communication networks, the use of advanced IT solutions in fisheries (mobile-based, web-based) is a giant leap for all countries to produce necessary data and information towards ensuring the sustainable use of resources and informing policy makers. Such advanced IT solutions are used at all levels of the fisheries supply chain by fishers, processers, exporters, national fishery officers, national fishery biologists and scientists,” the organisers commented.
DTO predictive models can be used as supplementary, data-based decision support tools for the fisheries sector and policymakers, bridging the industry-science-policy gap and providing a safe way to store and share data, they added.
“Knowledge-sharing and building trust with fishing communities are important, and the possibility of joining efforts towards achieving sustainable fisheries and ocean protection should be investigated,” they concluded.
ILIAD was represented at the Fish Forum by ILIAD Partners, Anis ZARROUK and Issam ACHOUR from UNEP/MAP-SPA/RAC, Garabet KAZANJIAN from the American University of Armenia (AUA), and Clyde Blanco from ILVO . Anis also served on the Fish Forum 2024 International Scientific Committee, established to support the conference’s scientific supervision.
The Fish Forum 2024 included three primary theme sessions: i) Better science for better advice; ii) Healthy seas and sustainable fisheries; and iii) Economic and technological innovation for resilient fisheries.
Over five days filled with keynote lectures, scientific communications, panels, workshops, side-events and exhibitions, Fish Forum 2024 brought together experts from 47 countries to discuss the latest developments in fisheries science, environmental, oceanographic and socioeconomic research. The conference’s content, outcomes and conclusions are available online. The Fish Forum 2024 was successful in generating useful inputs and tools, helping “scale-up science” to address the sector’s real-world challenges, the organisers emphasised.
Top priorities that Fish Forum 2024 participants agreed on going forward are:
Performing projections to advise on climate change scenarios
Managing the impacts and potential opportunities of non-indigenous species
Advancing marine spatial planning for fishery management and optimising interactions between the environment and vulnerable species
Developing better assessment models that integrate environmental factors, address climate change, and improve strategy evaluation and integration of socioeconomic data and traditional knowledge.
