Description: Development of global ocean observing capacity for the biological EOVs is on the cusp of a step-change. Current capacity to automate data collection and processing and to integrate the resulting data streams with complementary data, openly available as FAIR data, is certain to dramatically increase the amount and quality of information and knowledge available to scientists and decision makers into the future. There is little doubt that scientists will continue to expand their understanding of what lives in the ocean, where it lives and how it is changing. However, whether this expanding information stream will inform policy and management or be incorporated into indicators for national reporting is more uncertain. Coordinated data collection including open sharing of data will help produce the consistent evidence-based messages that are valued by managers. The GOOS Biology and Ecosystems Panel is working with other global initiatives to assist this coordination by defining and implementing Essential Ocean Variables. The biological EOVs have been defined, are being updated following community feedback, and their implementation is underway. In 2019, the coverage and precision of a global ocean observing system capable of addressing key questions for the next decade will be quantified, and its potential to support the goals of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development identified. Developing a global ocean observing system for biology and ecosystems requires parallel efforts in improving evidence-based monitoring of progress against international agreements and the open data, reporting and governance structures that would facilitate the uptake of improved information by decision makers.

Description: Developing enduring capacity to monitor ocean life requires investing in people and their institutions to build infrastructure, ownership, and long-term support networks. International initiatives can enhance access to scientific data, tools and methodologies, and develop local expertise to use them, but without ongoing engagement may fail to have lasting benefit. Linking capacity development and technology transfer to sustained ocean monitoring is a win-win proposition. Trained local experts will benefit from joining global communities of experts who are building the comprehensive Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). This two-way exchange will benefit scientists and policy makers in developing and developed countries. The first step toward the GOOS is complete: identification of an initial set of biological Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) that incorporate the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Essential Biological Variables (EBVs), and link to the physical and biogeochemical EOVs. EOVs provide a globally consistent approach to monitoring where the costs of monitoring oceans can be shared and where capacity and expertise can be transferred globally. Integrating monitoring with existing international reporting and policy development connects ocean observations with agreements underlying many countries' commitments and obligations, including under SDG 14, thus catalyzing progress toward sustained use of the ocean. Combining scientific expertise with international capacity development initiatives can help meet the need of developing countries to engage in the agreed United Nations (UN) initiatives including new negotiations for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, and the needs of the global community to understand how the ocean is changing.

Description: The individual-based trophic model Osmose is applied to the upwelling marine ecosystem off the coast of Peru. The dynamics and life cycle of eight major species of the Peruvian marine ecosystem are explicitly considered in the model. Reference simulations provide an overview of the trophic structure of the Peruvian ecosystem during the period 2000–2006. Results of model calibration and simulations are discussed in the light of current empirical knowledge on the trophic functioning of the Peruvian ecosystem and are compared to outputs obtained recently using the trophic model Ecopath. The impacts on the ecosystem of restoration plans for the depleted hake (Merluccius gayi peruanus) population are explored through two management scenarios: a) a long term reduction of fishing effort targeting hake and b) a moratorium on the hake fishery. The simulations help better understand the recent failure of a 20 month hake moratorium and provide long-term strategic support to ecosystem-based management. Limits of our approach are discussed and recommendations are detailed for future developments of the Osmose model and ecosystem approach to fishery management in the Peruvian context.

Description: Highlights: • Modelled fish biomass was affected by interannual variability in the plankton food. • The effects were small compared with the high variability in observations. • Fish were highly affected by changes in the larval mortality of anchovy. Abstract: The Northern Humboldt Current System is the most productive eastern boundary upwelling system, generating about 10 % of the global fish production, mainly coming from small pelagic fish. It is bottom-up and top-down affected by environmental and anthropogenic variability, such as El-Niño Southern Oscillation and fishing pressure, respectively. The high variability of small pelagic fish in this system, as well as their economic importance, call for a careful management aided by the use of end-to-end models. This type of models represent the ecosystem as a whole, from the physics, through plankton up to fish dynamics. In this study, we utilised an end-to-end model consisting of a physical–biogeochemical model (CROCO-BioEBUS) coupled one-way with an individual-based fish model (OSMOSE). We investigated how time-variability in plankton food production affects fish populations in OSMOSE and contrasted it against the sensitivity of the model to two parameters with high uncertainty: the plankton accessibility to fish and fish larval mortality. Relative interannual variability in the modelled fish is similar to plankton variability. It is, however, small compared with the high variability seen in fish observations in this productive ecosystem. In contrast, changes in larval mortality have a strong effect on anchovies. In OSMOSE, it is a common practice to scale plankton food for fish, accounting for processes that may make part of the total plankton in the water column unavailable. We suggest that this scaling should be done constant across all plankton groups when previous knowledge on the different availabilities is lacking. In addition, end-to-end modelling systems should consider environmental impacts on other biological processes such as larval mortality in order to better capture the interactions between environmental processes, plankton and fish.