NPFC Scientific Committee concludes virtual meetings
The NPFC Scientific Committee (SC) and its subsidiary bodies met via video conferencing from 11 to 27 November 2020. The meetings were attended by the NPFC Members (Canada, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Chinese Taipei, the United States of America and Vanuatu), observers from inter- and non-governmental organizations as well as invited experts.
Three subsidiary body meetings were held during the first two weeks of the meeting and discussed chub mackerel stock assessment, bottom fish and marine ecosystems, and stock assessment of Pacific saury, respectively.
- The Technical Working Group on Chub Mackerel Stock Assessment continued the development of the operating model for chub mackerel, set the plans for testing candidate stock assessment models and discussed first steps on a management strategy evaluation (MSE) process for chub mackerel
- The Small Scientific Committee on Bottom Fish and Marine Ecosystems revised conservation and management measures for bottom fisheries and protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VME), adopted the VME taxa identification guide for the Western North Pacific, and agreed to work intersessionally on data-limited management tools and approaches for assessing North Pacific armorhead and splendid alfonsino stocks.
- The Small Scientific Committee on Pacific Saury updated stock assessment of Pacific saury, noted the declining trend of the stock and suggested to further update and refine its analyses to use the best available information and provide solid scientific advice to the Commission meeting in February 2021.
The Scientific Committee reviewed recommendations from the subsidiary body meetings and provided scientific advice to the Commission with respect to the management of fisheries resources and protection of marine ecosystems in the NPFC Convention Area. The SC established four small working groups for other priority species (neon flying squid, Japanese flying squid, Japanese sardine, spotted mackerel) to work intersessionally on data collation and species summaries. The SC revised its 5-year Research and Work Plans, addressed issues related to data collection, management and security, and discussed recent and future cooperation with other organizations to facilitate the implementation of the Work Plan.
Next SC meeting is tentatively scheduled to take place during December 2021 with a meeting venue to be determined at the Commission meeting in February 2021.
The meeting reports will be available on the website in January 2021. For more information visit the meeting web page: https://www.npfc.int/meetings or contact the NPFC Secretariat. (See email address at the bottom of this page.)
