Shifting boundaries of water, ice, flora, fauna, people, and institutions in the Arctic and Subarctic

An international Open Science Meeting entitled Moving in, out, and across the Subarctic and Arctic marine ecosystems: shifting boundaries of water, ice, flora, fauna, people, and institutions, took place 11–15 June 2017 in Tromsø, Norway. Organized by the Ecosystem Studies of Subarctic and Arctic Seas programme and cosponsored by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and the North Pacific Marine Science Organization, the primary aim of the meeting was to examine past, present, and future ecosystem responses to climate variability and ocean acidification (OA) and their effect on fishing communities, the fishing industry and fisheries management in the northern Pacific and Atlantic oceans and the Arctic. This symposium issue contains several papers from the meeting covering topics from climate and OA, ecosystem responses to environmental change, and fisheries management including: a synthesis of the ecosystem responses to the AMO-linked cold period of the 1970s and 1980s;a novel approach to understand responses to OA in northern climes using natural carbonate chemistry gradients, such as CO2 vents, methane cold seeps, and upwelling area;the possibility that warm temperatures are allowing two generations of Calanus finmarchicus per year to be produced;a new hypothesis suggesting that in areas where sea ice disappears there could be an increase of fish species with swim bladders;results from laboratory experiments on the effects of temperature and food on Arctic and boreal fish larvae;the application of ecosystem-based management in northern regions; anda description of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration approach to marine conservation and how it affects fish populations and fisheries.