Report of the Working Group for the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian waters Ecoregion (WGBIE). 7–13 May 2014 Lisbon, Portugal
| Type | Expertise | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 2014 | ||||||||
| Language | English | ||||||||
| Ref. | ICES CM 2014/ACOM:11 | ||||||||
| Other localization | http://www.ices.dk/sites/pub/Publication%20Reports/Expert%20Group%20Report/acom/2014/WGBIE/01%20WGBIE%20report%202014.pdf | ||||||||
| Author(s) | ICES | ||||||||
| Contributor(s) | Bertignac Michel , Biais Gerard, Lissardy Muriel, Fifas Spyros, Drogou Mickael |
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| Sponsor | CIEM - ICES | ||||||||
| Publisher | ICES | ||||||||
| Note | ICES WGBIE REPORT 2014 ICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE | ||||||||
| Abstract | The ICES Working Group for the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian waters Ecoregion (WGBIE) met in Lisbon, Portugal during 7–13 May 2014. There were 23 stocks in its remit distributed from ICES Divisions IIIa to IXa though mostly distributed in Sub Ar-eas VII, VIII and IX. There were 18 participants (of whom 2 participated by videocon-ference). The group was tasked with carrying out stock assessments and catch forecasts and providing a first draft of the ICES advice for 2014 for 16 stocks. 4 stocks were listed as “multiyear”. For those stocks, catch information was updated. For the remaining stocks, WGBIE had to finalise a draft advice prepared by WGNEW. Analytical assessments using age-structured models were conducted for the northern and southern stocks of megrim, the Bay of Biscay sole and nephrops stocks, whereas the two hake stocks and one southern stock of anglerfish were assessed using models that allow the use of only length-structured data (no age data). A surplus-production model, without age or length structure, was used to assess the second southern stocks of anglerfish. No analytical assessments have been provided for the northern stocks of anglerfish after 2006. This is mostly due to ageing problems and to an increase in dis-cards in recent years, for which there is no reliable data at the stock level. The state of stocks for which no analytical assessment could be performed was inferred from ex-amination of commercial LPUE or CPUE data and from survey information. Four stocks within the remit of the WG went through the benchmarking process in 2014. For the two southern megrim stocks, the inclusion of discards and some modifi-cations in the assessment model settings were carried out. For northern hake, the ret-rospective pattern issue which arose in last year’s assessment was partly addressed and for southern hake, convergence issues of the assessment model were investigated. Three nephrops stocks from the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian waters are scheduled for benchmark assessments at the start of 2015. The WGBIE meeting spent some time plan-ning this benchmark (see Annex N) together with longer term benchmarks (2016 and after, see section 1.). A recurrent issue significantly constrained the group’s ability to address the terms of reference this year. Despite an ICES datacall with a deadline of 4 weeks before the meeting, data for several stocks were only available at the start of the meeting which lead to increase in workload during the working group, as in that case, the assessments could not be carried out in National Laboratories prior to the meeting as mentioned in the ToRs. This is an important matter of concerns for the group members. Section 1 of the report presents a summary by stock and discusses general issues. Sec-tion 2 provides descriptions of the relevant fishing fleets and surveys used in the as-sessment of the stocks. Sections 3 to 13 contain the single stock assessments. Additionally, the WG ToRs this year included a reconsideration of the reference points for northern hake (see Annex R). |
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