ICES Framework for Ecosystem-Informed Science and Advice (FEISA)

Ecosystem-based management (EBM) of human activities is key to achieving long-term sustainable use of marine resources and ecosystems. ICES is committed to developing the evidence base in support of EBM and providing scientific advice that can inform EBM decision‑making. To this end, a framework has been developed which aims to create an avenue of inclusion for the full variety of data, knowledge, methods, and syntheses that are required to deliver practical and operational EBM. Informed by existing and emerging science and advice needs, the framework combines a system of indicators with a risk-based approach to advance and coordinate knowledge and data developments and to translate these into the evidence base for ecosystem-informed ICES advice. The framework is designed to integrate and operationalize qualitative, semi-quantitative, and quantitative indicators in context-based and objective-based risk assessments that form the foundation of ecosystem-informed advisory products. Context-based risk assessments are used to situate and prioritize human activities and ecosystem components for science and management within the broader socio-ecological context. Objective-based risk assessments are used to evaluate the performance of alternative management options in meeting operational biological, ecological, and/or social, economic, and cultural objectives; this is given both the inherent complexity and the quantifiable and as yet unquantifiable uncertainties intrinsic to EBM. The risk-based approach requires the routine formulation, communication, and exploration of alternative hypotheses and management options for achieving competing socio-ecological objectives in advice, such as those relevant to identifying safe operating spaces and to identifying and understanding where trade-offs exist. Scientists already assess the risk to various ecosystem components, and managers make decisions to manage that risk. Risk evaluation and management practice is already enshrined in the widely adopted precautionary principle. As such, risk provides a common currency for merging different types of indicators at various levels of experiential, empirical, and/or analytical understanding. The proposed Framework for Ecosystem-Informed Science and Advice (FEISA) provides the architecture, flexible approach, and common ground required for iterative and incremental adaptation of ICES science and advisory practice to better inform EBM.