NEW BEDFORD, Mass., — March 19, 2014 — The following was released by the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute: Scientists, fishery managers, fishermen, groundfish sector managers and other stakeholders from throughout New England contributed to a workshop focused on reviewing the fishery monitoring system in New England, specifically for the Northeast groundfish fishery. The workshop was hosted by The Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute (MFI) as the third in a series that forms an end-to-end review of groundfish stock assessments and management1.
Terms of Reference
1. Document current protocols and sampling designs for the fishery monitoring programs and resource surveys.
2. Document the current data needs of management and science, including any changes anticipated to these needs. Determine if these needs are being met by current sampling programs.
3. Recommend revisions to the current data collection system to improve the ability to meet the scientific and management needs.
4. Provide recommendations for an optimal sampling system to meet scientific and management needs.
5. Provide recommendations that are relevant to the general topic.
Conclusions and recommendations were intended to be complementary to the NMFS review of data collection programs in 2013. Consensus recommendations developed at the workshop relative to surveys and fishery-monitoring programs are provided below. A more detailed workshop report will be provided as a part of the integrated end-to-end review of groundfish stock assessments and management.