VME bycatch data comparison between Japan and Korea: Potential challenges of applying data-based method to NW bycatch data

In SSC BFME 05, Japan had applied data-based method to refine the gear-/taxa-specific bycatch thresholds, but we could not obtain plausible results on that time. To solve the problem of model uncertainty due to the data limitations, SSC BFME and SC recommended to incorporate Korean bycatch data. As far as we compared the compositions and distributions of bycatch data between Japan and Korea, these data may consist of different distributional patterns, and it might be difficult to treat these data equally at this stage. Possible causal mechanisms of data discrepancy and possible treatments are suggested in the discussion.