STATUS OF STOCKS & MULTISPECIES ASSESSMENT PROGRAM:
Central Bering Sea Science and Technical Committee Meeting
Participants in the Central Bering Sea Science and Technical Committee Meeting, Pusan, Korea, May 2003 |
A workshop on walleye pollock resources in the central Bering Sea was held
in Pusan, Korea, 19-21 May 2003 at the Republic of Korea's National Fisheries
Research and Development Institute (NFRDI). The purpose of the workshop
was to evaluate scientific findings for key accomplishments that would
affect our understanding of the pollock resources since the implementation
of the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Pollock Resources
in the Central Bering Sea (CBS) 8 years ago.
Scientists from Poland, Russia, Japan, the United States, and Korea attended.
Four scientists from the AFSC participated: Rich Marasco (Workshop Chair),
Loh-Lee Low, Neal Williamson, and Jim Ianelli. The agenda covered comprehensive
survey plans with a proposal to integrate trial fishing into the research
program. The AFSC delegation specifically proposed altering its echo-integration
trawl survey of the Bogoslof Island region by the NOAA ship Miller Freeman
from an annual to a biennial schedule (with the next survey to be in 2005).
The survey has been used as an index for the Aleutian Basin pollock spawning
population. The meeting accepted this proposal and encouraged continued
cooperative research programs as in the past. However, the Parties did
not come up with a firm plan to integrate trial fishing vessels into the
regular research survey program.
Other agenda items included reviewing recent scientific accomplishments
in the area of pollock stock assessments, analyses that may provide insight
on pollock migration patterns, and factors affecting pollock abundance.
The exchange of information and ideas improved our understanding of pollock
ecology. The workshop did not come up with any recommendation to change
any terms in the Convention.
For more information about this meeting, please see the CBS website at
www.afsc.noaa.gov/refm/cbs/convention_conferences.htm.
By Jim Ianelli.
NEPA
REFM staff provide technical assistance in the preparation of two important
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents: the Alaska Groundfish
Fisheries Programmatic Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (PSEIS),
and the Essential Fish Habitat Environmental Impact Statement (EFH EIS).
The PSEIS describes and analyzes current knowledge about the physical,
biological, and human environment in order to assess impacts caused by
past and current fishery activities. The EFH EIS analyzes three specific
types of actions: 1) identification and description of EFH for managed
species, 2) identification of habitats of particular concern (HAPC) within
EFH, and 3) minimization of adverse effects on EFH caused by fishing.
REFM analysts are instrumental in developing and implementing many of the
analytical approaches used in both documents and provide extensive assistance
with mathematical modeling, database management, and data analysis in support
of this effort.
By Dan Ito.
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