REPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON RESEARCH ... - Iccat

WORK PLANS FOR 2009Before the assessment session a website will be set by the Secretariat to help exchange and prepare data onMultifan-CL. Input data for Multifan-CL shall be finalized one month (30 days) prior to the assessment sessionscheduled for mid-July 2009. Moreover, a video conference facility can be set by the Secretariat in order todiscuss issues related to the modeling of the albacore stock on agreed dates among participants of the albacoreCommittee after June 30, and prior to the assessment session.General tasks and on going research activities for 2009Increase the coverage of Task II data for major fleets in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, especially, for longlinefisheries of the North and South stocks.Develop standardized CPUE series for the main surface and longline fleets exploiting the South Atlanticalbacore to monitor the evolution of the relative abundance indicators of the stock.Continue to investigate the conversion of catch-at-size (CAS) into catch-at-age (CAA) for both North and SouthAtlantic albacore stocks (i.e. length slicing methods, age-length keys derived from aging methods).Studies on fecundity and maturity for both North and South albacore are needed to better estimate the potentialspawning stock biomass.Initiate tagging electronic experiments of North and South Atlantic albacore stock as the only possible mean toobtain independent datain order to understand the dynamics of this stock.Examination of the effects of markets on the catch rates of Atlantic albacore will contribute to understand theobserved trends in the fisheries.Bluefin Tuna Work PlanThe Bluefin Tuna Species Group reiterates the fact that, unless substantial improvements are made in the catchand effort statistics or new information on key issues is available, there is little scientific need to perform a stockassessment every two years. Furthermore, any change in exploitation or management will take several years tohave a detectable effect on bluefin tuna biomass because bluefin is a long lived species. Therefore, the BluefinTuna Species Group does not plan to conduct a new comprehensive assessment for the three to four comingyears., In the interim if adequately funded, the Bluefin Tuna Species Group plans to focus efforts on the researchactivities outlined within the Bluefin Year Program and within the proposed Bluefin Research Plan, such astagging, otolith microconstituent analyses, genetics, etc. This interim will further give the opportunity to theBluefin Tuna Species Group to improve models for evaluating Bluefin dynamics and status (which can hardly bedone during a stock assessment year), including operating models that incorporate spatial variability and mixingas an example. The preliminary work of the SCRS has indicated that mixing has fundamental importance for theassessment of both eastern and western stocks, and the research work planned will improve our knowledge inthis critical area. The overall approach would allow the Bluefin Tuna Species Group focus on important or novelissues regarding data and models which will thus improve the quality and credibility of future assessments.North and South AtlanticSwordfish Work PlanAssessment. In conformity with Recommendation [06-02], it is recommended that the next North and SouthAtlantic swordfish stock assessment be conducted in September 2009. The priority for the north stockassessment is to monitor the status of the stock relative to B MSY .The Atlantic assessment will be completed in five days. Given this timeframe, it is envisaged that the 2009assessment will update the approaches used in the 2006 assessment. To accomplish this, the lumped biomassproduction model analyses will be updated using data to the end of 2007, or 2008 where available, and include 5-year projections Action: National Scientists191