| Ocean Science and Living Resources (OSLR) |
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 GOOS Project Office, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCORue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15, France(33 1) 45.68.39.81Fax: (33 1) 45.68.58.12Colin Summerhayes, Director, GPO c.summerhayes@unesco.orgIn 1979, the 11th Assembly of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO) approved a resolution to develop a plan to foster applied oceanographic research relating to living marine resources. This led to the creation of the Programme on Ocean Science in Relation to Living Resources (OSLR) , jointly-led by IOC and FAO along with their partners. |
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| SPACC Synthesis and Training Office (SPACC: Small Pelagic Fishes and Climate Change) |
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| Joint SCOR/IOC Working Group 119 on Quantitative Indicators of Marine Ecosystem Change Induced by Fisheries |
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| Ad Hoc Study Group on Benthic Indicators |
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| Ad Hoc Study Group on Indicators of Coral Bleaching and Subsequent Effects |
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| GEOHAB: Global Ecology And Oceanography Of Harmful Algal Blooms. |
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| During the 1980s, OSLR carried out field programmes related to physical-biological links affecting fish stock variability in boundary currents (International Recruitment Programme), coral reefs, tropical demersal shelves and open ocean regions. |
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| In the late 1980s and 1990s, issues such as harmful algal blooms (HAB) and coral reef bleaching emerged to which IOC responded by initiating its HAB Programme and sponsoring the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) - now key elements of OSLR. |
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| OSLR also co-sponsors the International Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) Programme, supports the Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) project and the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey of the Sir Alistair Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS). It also provides information to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and has taken the lead in developing the Living Marine Resources Module of the Global Ocean Observing System (LMR GOOS). |
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| IOC's Ocean Sciences Programme is being revitalized. The Ocean Sciences Programme will be increasingly interdisciplinary in nature, in recognition of the growing need to tackle complex environmental issues with an integrated and interdisciplinary approach. OSLR will now be re-organized along the theme of Global and Coastal Ocean Processes in the Context of Ocean Ecosystems and Climate Variability. |
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| There will be activities providing information essential to the implementation of an ecosystem approach to living marine resource conservation and management.Several key scientific issues central to marine ecosystems and their resources have been identified for study, including: the role of environmental variability in the abundance and distribution of fishes; the use of environmental indices in the management of pelagic fish populations; the development and utility of indicators for coral bleaching and the health of benthic environments; the ecology and oceanography of harmful algal blooms; and the monitoring of coral reef ecosystems. |
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| IOC will establish study groups to address carefully-defined issues within each of these areas, and use data to test hypotheses. The results will be approaches which can be practically applied to improve marine resource assessment and management. |
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| The current study groups and activities include: |
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| Ad Hoc Study Group on Use of Environmental Indices in the Management of Pelagic Fish Populations |
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