The back-to-back Annual Technical Meeting of the Regional Coordination Groups for the North Atlantic, North Sea and Eastern Artic (RCG NANSEA) and for the Baltic Sea (RCG Baltic) took place from 10 to 13 June 2025 in Lysekil, Sweden. The event was hosted by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and co-chaired by Josefine Egekvist (DTU Aqua, Denmark), Rita Vasconcelos (IPMA, Portugal), and Vilda Griuniene (Ministry of Agriculture of Lithuania).
The hybrid meeting gathered 63 participants, 48 in person and 15 online, from 14 EU Member States, including RCG and ISSG chairs, national correspondents, European Commission representatives, ICES representatives, and experts from research institutes and national authorities.
A distinctive feature of this year’s agenda was the emphasis on collaboration and active engagement through structured group work. During the end-user needs session, a conversation cafe format was employed, enabling participants to work in six different thematic tables, including: data needs, optimization tools, interaction with end users, prioritize survey effort, new monitoring techniques and political priorities. The format allowed fruitful discussions and brought together a broad range of perspectives and conclusions.
Another key collaborative session was the Regional Work Plan (RWP) session, structured in multiple stages:
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- Initially, all participants shared their perspectives on what the RWP represents and its implications through an interactive activity designed to gather their concerns and opinions.
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- Later on, attendees were divided into their ISSG groups to work on creating their own roadmaps for the RWP and advancing the planning for the upcoming cycle (2028-2030).
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- All conclusions and feedback were later on shared in a plenary session where each group presented the results of their discussions.
Lastly, the session dedicated to SECWEB 2.0 also featured a hands-on group work, in this case focused on the Recommendations and Decisions platform, enabling participants to provide their feedback regarding the design and contribute to the ongoing development of this digital tool.
Throughout the meeting, participants validated the importance of regional cooperation in advancing towards shared objectives under the Data Collection Framework. These interactive sessions, informal moments such as the social dinner, along with the excellent organisation and hospitality provided by the hosts, contributed to a constructive and cooperative atmosphere.
The meeting reports are available in the RCG NANSEA & RCG Baltic sections.