2011 Preparatory Stock Assessment Workshop
SPC, Noumea, New Caledonia
4 – 8 April 2011

Introduction

Participants will be welcomed and the process for the meeting and documenting outcomes discussed

MULTIFAN-CL

The current status, recent, and future developments will be discussed. This will include the website and current release details.

Catch estimates

• Indonesia and the Philippines
• Purse seine catches determined from observer grab samples corrected for size selectivity

CIE review
SPC will present the recommendations from the 2009 yellowfin tuna assessment review (which will be distributed to participants in advance of the meeting) and their summarised response. More detailed responses will come through in the specific agenda items. A written response will come in the form of a SC7 paper.

Stock assessment inputs

• Longline CPUE
• Size data
• Pole and line CPUE
• Purse seine CPUE
• Tagging data
• Biological inputs

Presentations in each of the above-listed work areas will focus on two aspects

1. a strategic approach to address the issues in the form of a medium term
2. research plan;an update on any progress to date.

These planning documents will lay out the different work areas and a suggested timeline.
We will be seeking some comment from the WS on these plans which will then be presented to SC7 for endorsement as documents to direct work in these areas (the Science Manager will need to determine how best to incorporate these into existing planning documents).
The work presented under (b) need not result in changes to the assumptionsfrom previous assessments

Reference points and related issues

• Report from ISSF steepness workshop
• CSIRO consultancy on reference points (To be confirmed)
• Use of temporal windows to estimate spawner recruitment relationships in MFCL

Resulting from these discussions could be suggestions for a range of assumptions to be considered in the assessments. It should be noted that the implementation of the SPC reference point work will be discussed in the context of projections.

Proposed stock assessment approaches for 2011

During the meeting SPC will update last year’s assessment tables which outline key assumptions / data sources etc. SPC will be seeking input on the runs to be considered. SPC notes that it does not intend to undertake full grids of structural uncertainty analyses for these assessments –the extra time will be needed for the projections and reference point work.

A general approach for WCPFC stock assessments

SPC will present a proposed framework for ‘streamlined’ and full assessments with integrated peer review and the update of conservation and management measures. SPC will be seeking comments from the WS and a decision will then be made as to whether this be developed into a SC7 working paper.

Projections

• MULTIFAN-CL implementation of deterministic and stochastic projections
• TUMAS

We will first provide an overview of the projection methods used for the evaluation of management options and reference point analyses and then demonstrate the features of TUMAS.

Review of meeting outcomes

A summary of the key meeting outcomes will be produced for initial discussion if time allows. The full draft report will be distributed within ten working days.