166 Oceanography | Vol.24, No.1 
RECULAR ISSUE FEATURE 
Does 
Operational Oceanography 
Address the Needs of Fisheries and 
Applied Environmental Scientists? 
BY BARBARA BERX, MARK DI C K E Y-CO L L AS, MORTEN D. SKOGEN, YANN-HERVE DE ROECK, 
HOLGER KLEIN, ROSA BARCIELA, RODNEY M. FORSTER, ERIC DOMBROWSKY, MARTIN HURET, 
MARK PAYNE, YOLANDA SAGARMINAGA, AND CORINNA SCHRUM 
ABSTRACT. Although many oceanographic data products are now considered 
operational, continued dialogue between data producers and their user communities 
is still needed. The fisheries and environmental science communities have often 
been criticized for their lack of multidisciplinarity, and it is not clear whether recent 
developments in operational oceanographic products are addressing these needs. 
The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Working Group on 
Operational Oceanographic products for Fisheries and Environment (WGOOFE) 
identified a potential mismatch between user requirements and the perception of 
requirements by the providers. Through a questionnaire (98 respondents), WGOOFE 
identified some of these issues. Although products of physical variables were in higher 
demand, several biological parameters scored in the top 10 rankings. Users placed 
specific focus on historic time series products with monthly or annual resolution 
and updating on similar time scales. A significant percentage requested access to 
numerical data rather than graphical output. While the outcomes of this survey 
challenge our views of operational oceanography, several initiatives are already 
attempting to close the gap between user requirements and products available. 
INTRODUCTION 
Operational oceanography aims to 
provide oceanographic information and 
data in a routine manner from observa 
tions and/or models for regular use 
(Nowlin and Malone, 2003). The Global 
Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment 
(GODAE; Bell et al., 2009) pioneered the 
use of real-time global forecasting, and 
over the past decade, a significant amount 
of effort has been devoted to the develop 
ment of pan-European operational capa 
bility through European projects such as 
the Marine Environment and Security 
for the European Area (MERSEA; http:// 
www.mersea.eu.org) and the European 
Coastal Sea Operational and Observing 
and Forecasting System (ECOOP; 
http://www.ecoop.eu). As a result, 
many oceanographic data products are 
now considered operational, and the 
concept has become a reality. Advances 
in modeling biogeochemical systems, 
together with increased computer power 
and societal demand for this informa 
tion, have translated into the expansion 
of operational systems to include fully 
coupled ecosystem models and their 
products (Brasseur et al., 2009). Many of 
the current suite of operational products 
are oriented toward real-time monitoring 
and short-term forecasting (e.g., ECOOP 
and MyOcean, http://www.myocean. 
eu.org). It has always been clear, however, 
that the products made available must 
be developed in collaboration with 
their users (Nowlin and Malone, 2003; 
Polfeldt, 2006). 
One of the perceived user groups of 
operational oceanographic products is 
the fisheries and environmental scientific 
community. This community is often 
criticized for failing to be multidisci 
plinary in focus (Olsen, 1988; Kjell, 
This article has been published in Oceanography, Volume 24, Number 1, a quarterly journal of The Oceanography Society. © 2011 by The Oceanography Society. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy this article for use in teaching and research. Republication, systemmatic reproduction, 
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