Protected Species Stock Assessment Improvement Plan Tier III Workshop 2006
Workshop Home | Abstracts | Agenda | Groups | Readings | Terms of Reference
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The Final Report of the Protected Species SAIP Tier III Workshop (NMFS-F/SPO-78) is now available.
The workshop goal was to improve living marine resource science by expanding observing and research programs beyond the traditional single-species approach towards an ecosystem-based approach. The Tier III workshop focused on a series of key questions to provide guidance to NOAA staff in their development of the Tier III Plan:
- How do Protected Species fit into NOAA's Ecosystems Approach to Management (EAM)?
- Should NOAA's focus be "Ecosystem Studies with A Protected Species Component," "Protected Species Studies with An Ecosystem Component," or both?
- Can we develop an ecosystem approach for protected species stock assessments (e.g., can PBR be further developed to provide an ecosystem based assessment?)
- How should NOAA deal with the governance issues related to EAM for protected species? That is, how can EAM be used by NOAA managers to meet their ESA/MMPA mandates?
Other topics that were addressed included the science needs of NOAA's Ocean Health program related to EAM and how EAM assists NOAA and its partners' in meeting their Tier III information needs. These questions will be addressed largely from the perspective of marine mammal, marine turtle, and salmonid conservation. However, it will be remembered that the results of these discussions also need to be applicable to other NOAA protected marine species.
Workshop Outcomes
A NOAA Tech Memo [pdf] was prepared containing presentation summaries and findings of working groups.
The 2006 workshop brought together a diverse group of scientists and managers from a variety of organizations and expertise areas to clarify the vision for EAM for protected species and scope the necessary resources and data required for Tier III.
In addition to invited scientists and managers, the workshop was open to the general scientific community.
Key government sponsors included:
