The Marine Institute’s chief executive has been elected to the Bureau of the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) at the recent annual meeting of its member countries.
Dr Paul Connolly — one of two ICES delegates for Ireland along with Dr Ciaran Kelly, also of the Marine Institute — was voted onto the executive committee of the ICES Council, its principal decision- and policy-making body, at the recent annual meeting of member countries on 21-22 October.
Marine Minister Charlie McConalogue was among those offering their congratulations to Dr Connolly on his new appointment.
“Ireland relies on the work of ICES to support the sustainable use of our seas and oceans and Dr Connolly’s election will further enhance Ireland’s contribution to this valued international organisation,” the minister said.
Marine Institute chairman Dr John Killeen added: “On behalf of the board, I congratulate Dr Connolly on his election by the member countries of ICES to this prestigious and important position.
“The Marine Institute has a long-standing relationship with ICES and regard it as an essential forum for our scientists to collaborate with their international colleagues to deliver impartial advice for our decision makers.”
Dr Connolly has served the ICES community since he was first appointed Irish delegate in 2000, when he took up his role as director of fisheries and ecosystems advisory services at the Marine Institute.
Dr Connolly was elected vice president of ICES in 2003 and served on its board until 2005. He then served as MCAP (Management Committee on the Advisory Process) chair from 2005 to 2008.
He was elected president of ICES from 2012 to 2015, and led the development of the ICES Strategic Plan (2014-2018) which was adopted by 20 member countries. Dr Connolly was appointed CEO of the Marine Institute in October 2019.
ICES is an intergovernmental marine science organisation, with a network of 6,000 scientists from over 700 marine institutes in the 20 member countries that border the North Atlantic.
Ireland joined ICES in 1925 and is a strong supporter of the organisation. The Marine Institute provides a broad range of dedicated marine scientists that make a valuable contribution to the work of ICES.
Through strategic partnerships, ICES works in the Atlantic Ocean also extends into the Arctic, the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and the North Pacific Ocean. Some 2,500 scientists participate in ICES activities annually.
ICES advances and shares scientific understanding of marine ecosystems and the services they provide, and uses this knowledge to generate state-of-the-art advice for meeting conservation, management and sustainability goals.
This year’s ICES Council meeting dealt with a broad range of marine issues including the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on scientific data collection, analysis and advice delivery; on the finances of the organisation and on how ICES might contribute to the UN Decade of the Ocean (2021 to 2019).