Small pelagic fish symposium

Following the Commission decision to contribute to the PICES/ICES International Symposium “Drivers of dynamics of small pelagic fish resources”, the Science Manager attended the symposium which was held in Victoria, Canada from 6-11 March 2017.

Major outcomes relevant to NPFC interests were:

• Discussion on potential areas for short- and long-term cooperation between NPFC and PICES;  PICES participation in and support of the upcoming NPFC meetings.
• Review of assessment methods for SPF and comparison with approaches used by NPFC that resulted in conclusion that NPFC scientists use modern and advanced methods for stock assessment which follow the best world practice.
• Opinions of experts from ICES and SPRFMO regarding external service providers for stock assessment.
• Importance of data sharing for transparent and reliable scientific assessments within an RFMO.
• FAO interpretation and implementation of Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) - NPFC does not have such capacity to consider economic and social aspects of EAF (in addition to ecological interactions) but might consider to take it into account to be consistent with FAO activities.
• Advanced methods to forecast long-term changes in SPF abundance and predict collapses of key fisheries resources that is important for long-term projections made by NPFC and for adaptive management approach.

The symposium was supported by a number of intergovernmental organizations (FAO, GFCM, NPFC) and other bodies from all over the world. Support of the PICES symposium by NPFC has brought the organizations to a new level of cooperation.