ICES flagship event takes place from 19–23 September in the Radisson Blu Hotel Latvija, in the centre of Riga, and welcomes over 600 conference-goers from around the world, including scientists, policy makers, organization representatives, and students.
The programme consists of a five-day agenda brimming with the latest in marine science and research. Eighteen theme sessions feature a wide variety of topics, from the role of zooplankton to marine resource management, Arctic ecosystem services, maritime spatial planning, and integrated ecosystems assessments.
“For Latvian fisheries biologists, ICES has always been a significant platform to promote good cooperation with scientists of other countries, to ensure coordination of research surveys, to contribute to data collection and the development of regional databases, as well as providing training for new scientists”, observe Georgs Kornilovs and Normunds Riekstins, Latvia’s delegates to ICES.
“The ASC provides an important venue to meet and discuss with fellow experts – both from within the community, and with newcomers. It provides an opportunity to cover the whole plethora of activities related to a specific theme; from additional research, and data needs, to the provision of best available scientific advice,” says ICES General Secretary Anne Christine Brusendorff. “The very same features that makes ICES such a special marine science organisation. ICES is proud to be invited to Riga, and wants to send a special thanks to the local Latvian hosts.”
The ASC opening ceremony was on Monday 19 September at 13:00. Fritz Köster of The National Institute of Aquatic Resources at Denmark’s Technical University (DTU-Aqua) gave a lecture on understanding the processes behind fish stock dynamics.
 hold its Annual Science Conference (ASC) in the Latvian capital for the very first time){kind=link}