Report of the Expert Consultation Workshop on the ''Development of methodologies for the global assessment of fish stock status''

Abstract

The FAO Expert Consultation Workshop on the “Development of methodologies for the global assessment of fish stock status” took place in Rome, Italy, from 4-6 February 2019. The overall objective of the workshop was to present to a group of experts in stock assessment, fishery management and policy development a new tool (now called sraplus) that can be used to assess the status of currently unassessed stocks. More in detail, participants were asked to i) review the technical design, soundness and practical applicability of the new methodology, ii) evaluate its performance with simulation data and real fisheries data, iii) discuss its advantages and disadvantages as well as any necessary adjustments, and iv) design a plan for steps forward towards its application in global fish stock assessment. The workshop participants contributed in their individual capacities to the discussions which resulted in a set of recommendations on how to improve the tool and the data that is provided to the assessments.