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

ICCAT REPORT 2008-2009 (I)submission of data using the ICCAT electronic forms in 2008. Regarding Task I, the Secretariat indicated thatthe major issue remains the lack of submission or late submissions by some Contracting Parties (Tables 1, 2, 3and 4 the Secretariat Report on Statistics and Coordination of Research 2008). It was observed that for somecountries there is a total lack of submission of data for 2007. It was noted that few Contracting Parties reportzero catch for tunas and tunas-like species (Norway and Iceland) in an annual basis, and that this lack of reportmakes it difficult to differentiate between non-reporting and no catches. Therefore it was recommended tocommunicate to the Statistical Correspondents to also include zero catches when reporting using the Task Ielectronic form. It was also reported that very few Contracting Parties have submitted data regarding fleetcharacteristics, which should be updated on an annual basis using the electronic form available. The submissionof fleet characteristics information has become particularly important because of the Commission interests incontrolling fleet capacity as a management tool. The Sub-Committee asked the national scientists to review thedata summarized by the Secretariat and provide information on fleet characteristics on a provisional basis iflacking. Table 1 of this report presents an updated report of the Task I data submission indicating the deadlinemonth for a particular species and the month that the Contracting Party submitted the Task I information.It was recommended that the deadline for data submission for stock assessment meetings be changed if theoriginal date of the meeting is changed (as was the case for the 2008 Sharks Stock Assessment Meeting).Discussions regarding deadlines concluded that both the Secretariat and the Species Working Group Chairsshould strictly enforce the two-weeks prior to the meeting deadline for data submission. This recommendationshould apply for meetings/assessments taking place before July 31. The Sub-Committee recommends thatexceptions to this deadline or special circumstances will be the Chair’s decision and responsibility and that onlythe Chair should coordinate with the Secretariat to ensure timely delivery of the data requested for the meeting. Itwas also recommended that these exceptions be documented in the meeting report. It was mentioned that specialdata treatments for applications such Multifan-CL will require an earlier submission, and the Chair shouldcoordinate with the Secretariat with sufficient anticipation to assure timely delivery of the data.The Sub-Committee recommended to the Secretary the implementation of web-based applications that allowweb-conference and web-base folder access. These applications will provide the Species Working Group Chairswith logistic tools for reviewing, submitting, updating, and/or correcting data prior to the formal meeting. TheSecretariat will provide the operational support and guidelines, while the Chairs will have the responsibility forimplementation, determining access rights and permissions to the participant scientist. The Sub-Committeerecommends that these web-base applications be ready before the upcoming year meetings, and that theSecretary distribute the instructions and requirements for its use to the Chairs of all Working Groups.3.2 Tagging data3.2.1 Report on ICCAT-U.S. tagging coordination meetingFollowing last year’s recommendation, the Secretariat met with U.S. scientists to coordinate protocols for thetransfer of tagging data to the ICCAT tagging database. Details and results of this meeting were presented by theSecretariat in documents SCRS/2008/024 and SCRS/2008/159. The Secretariat informed of the updatedstructured of the tagging database, following the recommendations from the Ad Hoc Working Group on Taggingand also presented the new web-electronic forms for the submission of tag releases and recaptures ofconventional and electronic tagging programs. The Sub-Committee approved the new database structure andforms and recommended that scientists present, disseminate, and promote its use. The Sub-Committee noted thatthe maintenance and update of this new tagging database is an additional task to the already overloadedSecretariat responsibilities. It was recommended that the Ad Hoc Tagging Working Group review the quality ofthe data and consider some issues such as protocols for communications of recovery information andconfidentiality of personal information and then communicate to the Secretariat the necessary changes to thedatabase to address these issues.The Secretariat reported on the great improvement of the tagging data, that resulted from the cooperationbetween the Secretariat and diverse scientific groups (EC-Spain, US-Tagging Center), and recommended tocontinue with this type of cooperative revisions and coordination meetings through the Ad Hoc Tagging WorkingGroup.206