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Peer Review Plans |
Title and Description:
Stock Assessment of Pacific Hake / Whiting in U.S. and Canadian Waters - 2008
This assessment reports the status of the coastal Pacific hake (Merluccius productus) resource off the west coast of the United States and Canada. Specifically, the information includes a determination of the condition and status of the fishery resource relative to current definitions for overfished status, a summary of available data included in the model, impacts of various management scenarios on the status of the stocks, and recovery trajectories for those stocks determined to be overfished. The information is provided to the Pacific Fishery Management Council and NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service to be used as the basis of their management decisions, which are subsequently approved and disseminated by the Secretary of Commerce through NOAA and NMFS.
The Stock Assessment Review (STAR) meeting is a formal, public, multiple-day meeting of stock assessment experts who serve as a peer-review panel for the Pacific hake / whiting stock assessments. The STAR process is a key element in an overall process designed to make timely use of new fishery and survey data, to analyze and understand these data as completely as possible, to provide opportunity for public comment, and to assure the best available science is used to inform management decisions.
ID: 95 Info. Type: ISI
Estimated Dissemination Date: 3/9/2008 Actual: 3/9/2008
Contact Person: Rebecca Rootes NOAA Locator
Date First Posted in Peer Review Agenda: 12/16/2007
Estimated Peer Review Start Date: 2/11/2008
Review type: panel
Expected number of peer reviewers: 4-10
Peer reviewers will be selected by: a designated outside organization
Will the public, including scientific or professional societies, be asked to nominate potential peer reviewers? no
Will there be opportunities for the public to comment on the work product to be peer reviewed? yes
How? Review of the Pacific hake/Whiting stock assessment will take place during The U.S. - Canada Joint Review Panel in Seattle, Washington. Hard copies of the draft stock assessment report will be available to the public at the meeting. Public comment and testimony can be given during the multi-day review panel which is open to the public. The STAR panel meetings are noticed in the Federal Register and meeting announcements distributed by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC). Opportunities for public comment are also available during the PFMC’s Scientific and Statistical Committee’s (SSC) final review of the stock assessment following approval by the US-Canada Joint Review Panel and during Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting. The SSC’s review and well as the Council meeting are open to the public.
When? The US-Canada Joint Review Panel for Pacific hake/Whiting will be held February 11-14, 2008 in Seattle, Washington. The SSC will conduct a final review of the assessment during the Council meeting in Sacramento, California on March 9-14, 2008. Public comment will be accepted during both meetings.
Will the agency provide significant and relevant public comments to the peer reviewers before they conduct their review? no
Primary disciplines or expertise needed in the review: Reviewers should have expertise in fish population dynamics with experience in the integrated analysis type of modeling approach, using age-and size-structured models, use of MCMC to develop confidence intervals, and use of Generalized Linear Models to process survey and logbook data for use in assessment models.
Comments on Peer Review:
The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (PFMC) Science and Statistical Committee (SSC) will select the Chairperson for the Panel, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) will select one reviewer, and the Center for Independent Experts (CIE) will select two reviewers.
Re charge statement to the peer reviewers, see Terms of Reference for Stock Assessment Review Panels: http://www.pcouncil.org/groundfish/gfstocks/0708/0708tor.pdf
The US-Canada Pacific Hake/Whiting Treaty: http://pacificwhiting.org/images/US_Canada_Hake_Agreement.pdf
Center for Independent Experts Web site: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/cie/
Final peer review report: http://www.pcouncil.org/groundfish/gfsafe1008/2008_Pac_Hake_STAR_Rep_Final.pdf
Work product: http://www.pcouncil.org/groundfish/gfsafe1008/pacific_hake_assessment_2008_FINAL.pdf