November 18, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will convene a Data Workshop as part of the development of a benchmark stock assessment for black drum that will be used to inform management. At the Workshop, the Black Drum Technical Committee and Stock Assessment Committee will conduct a thorough review of all available data. The Workshop will be conducted virtually by webinar December 7-9, and is open to the public,except for discussions regarding confidential data*, when the public will be asked to exit the webinar. The link to the webinar follows:
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/307963085. The draft agenda for the Workshop can be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/BlackDumBenchmarkAssmtDataWorkshopAgenda_Dec2021.pdf.
The Methods Workshop will be held in February 2022 and the Assessment Workshop will be held in July 2022, with the Peer Review to follow in December 2022. For more information about the Data Workshop, please contact Savannah Lewis, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at slewis@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.
* Each state and federal agency is responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of its data and deciding who has access to its confidential data. In the case of our stock assessments and peer reviews, all analysts and, if necessary, reviewers, have been granted permission by the appropriate agency to use and view confidential data. When the assessment team needs to show and discuss these data, observers to our stock assessment process are asked to leave the room to preserve confidentiality.