NOAA Fisheries will host a National Annual Catch Limit (ACL) Science Workshop on February 15-17, 2011, in Silver Spring, MD.
The meeting will be held in conjunction with the Regional Fishery Management Councils, and will involve NOAA Fisheries staff, Council representatives and nationally recognized fishery science experts.
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) was amended in 2007 to include a requirement to implement ACLs and accountability measures in the nation’s fisheries.
This mandate and the subsequent update of National Standard 1 Guidelines substantially changed the nature and amount of data needed to manage the nation’s fisheries.
The workshop will focus on scoping potential improvements in the state of scientific information needed to support implementation of the MSA, particularly in determining and implementing ACLs.
The scope of the science issues associated with ACLs is quite broad, and not all topics can be fully covered.
The proposed topics to be addressed include:
• Identifying data needs and related costs of conducting additional stock assessments.
• Calculating and communicating uncertainty in stock assessments.
• Considering socio-economic and ecosystem considerations in the definition of optimum yield.
• Developing cost-effective approaches to developing ACLs and AMs for data-poor stocks.
• How to best use cooperative research programs to augment needed data.
• Coordinating the roles of Science Centers, SSCs, and peer review systems in providing the best scientific information available.
• Identifying improvements to commercial and recreational fishery monitoring programs to provide scientists and managers with the data they need.
For further information please contact Richard Methot, Office of Science and Technology, NMFS, at richard.methot@noaa.gov or at (206) 860-3365.
The meeting location is physically accessible to people with disabilities.
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to Mark Nelson at (301) 713 2341 at least five working days prior to the meeting. |
