Some 300 delegates convened at the University of the Algarve in Faro, Portugal this week for the 17 th International Conference on Pollutant Responses in Marine Organisms (PRIMO). The symposium, which attracts scientists working in the field of marine ecotoxicology, takes place every second year, and the 2013 event represented the first time ICES has backed the conference in such a way.
ICES sponsorship of PRIMO this year is with a view to the improvement of links between the wider research community and ICES work, leading to advice on the monitoring and assessment of contaminants in the marine environment.
PRIMO took the form of many theme sessions spanning three days, several of which were chaired by Co-Chair of ICES Working Group on Biological Effects of Contaminants (WGBEC) Matt Gubbins and Chair of the Marine Chemistry Working Group (MCWG) Katrin Vorkamp, having both joined the PRIMO Scientific Committee as ICES co-conveners.
Approximately 150 papers and 200 posters were delivered over the three days of the Symposium. ICES also sponsored 10 student presentation and poster awards, which were presented to the students by Matt Gubbins and ICES Science Programme Departmental Secretary Vivian Piil during the closing ceremony.