Summary for Policy Makers from the first Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean (MEASO) and recommendations for CCAMLR

The first Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean (MEASO) was the work of 203 scientists from 19 countries and has been a core activity of Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean (ICED), which was developed in collaboration with CCAMLR and is a regional program of Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR – a joint program of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research [SCOR] and Future Earth), and co-sponsored by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). MEASO has also been supported by the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), a joint program of SCAR and SCOR. The outcomes of MEASO are in a Frontiers Research Topic (https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/10606/marine-ecosystem-asse…). They provide a timely and detailed assessment of current knowledge on status, trends and drivers of change in Southern Ocean ecosystems to inform urgent global and local policy actions to support mitigation and adaptation options to climate change and other drivers.

This paper presents the Summary for Policy Makers to the Scientific Committee and Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, with the key findings and advice presented as:

i) Context

ii) Policy-relevant findings and recommended research priorities

a. Managing for change

b. Measuring change

c. Projecting change to support risk assessments

iii) State, variability and change in Southern Ocean ecosystems

a. Value and importance of Southern Ocean ecosystems in the Earth System

b. Changing habitats in the Southern Ocean

c. Biological changes and vulnerabilities

The paper also advises on how the SCAR/ICED/MEASO communities could be further utilized to support the work of the Scientific Committee, particularly on climate change.