Over the past year, the Stock Identification Methods Working Group (SIMWG) has made progress toward addressing our multi-year terms of reference and has contrib-uted to ICES Science Plan priorities. The working group was chaired by Lisa Kerr (USA) during this period and SIMWG worked by correspondence in 2017.
SIMWG has continued to provide annual updates on recent applications of stock identifi-cation methods to ICES species and on advances in stock identification methods. SIMWG’s annual reviews on advances in stock identification methods keeps ICES mem-bers abreast of best practices in this field of study.
SIMWG continues to work on resolving issues of stock identification as requested by ICES working groups. Over the past year, we have received requests for advice on Atlan-tic sardine from participants in the Workshop on Atlantic Sardine (WKSAR) and a re-quest from the North Western Working Group (NWWG) to review beaked redfish (S. mentella) stock affiliation on the East Greenland slope. These reviews are ongoing.
SIMWG continues to work on reviewing and reporting on advances in mixed stock anal-ysis. This work is relevant to resolving mixed stock composition issues in assessment and management and will continue over the next two years of our three year cycle.