January 17, 2014 — The following was released by the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute (MFI):
We invite you to participate in a workshop hosted by the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute (MFI) on "Fishery Monitoring and Survey Selectivity" on February 24 – 25 at the Waypoint Event Center in New Bedford (185 MacAuthur Boulevard, New Bedford; http://www.eventsbylhc.com/venues/waypoint-event-center/) and February 26 at the Waterfront Grille (across the street, at 36 Homer’s Wharf).
The MFI is coordinating an End-to-End Review of New England Groundfish Stock Assessments, and this workshop topic was identified at a recent scoping meeting in that process (report attached). An executive summary of the first workshop on environmental change and second workshop on reference points and uncertainty buffers are also attached as examples of the expected output from this workshop.
This workshop on fishery monitoring and survey selectivity will be describing current data collection programs and soliciting feedback from the fishing industry to complement the technical recommendations from a recent data collection program review by NMFS. A draft agenda is below. Given the wide scope of these topics, the workshop is expected to provide an overview and broad recommendations for a longer-term approach to improving fishery monitoring and surveys.
The meetings are open to all interested parties who register by contacting Emily Keiley, ekeiley@umassd.edu, so please forward this announcement to anyone else in your organization or network who might be interested, and pardon any cross-postings. Please register no later than Monday, February 17th.
Please also contact me if you would like the steering group to consider a presentation of your research or your perspective for the agenda. A more detailed agenda will be distributed to registrants in advance of the meeting.
MFI MONITORING WORKSHOP DRAFT AGENDA
Monday, February 24 (1-6pm) Waypoint Event Center
Introduction
1. MFI End-to-End Review – Steve Cadrin
2. NMFS review of data collection programs – NEFSC
Survey Selectivity
1. NEFSC Surveys – Rob Johnston
2. MA DMF Survey – Jeremy King
3. Industry-Based Surveys – Greg DeCelles
a. Comparison of Catches from the Cod Industry-Based Survey and the Fishery – Steve Correia
b. Video Trawl Survey – Kevin Stokesbury
4. Survey Selectivity Panel Discussion – Pingguo He, Tor Bendickson, …
5. Discussion
Tuesday, February 25 (9am-6pm) Waypoint Event Center
Fishery Monitoring Programs
1. Fishery-Dependent Data Project – Jonathon Peros
2. Vessel and Dealer Collections – Jim St.Cyr
3. Biological Sampling – Vic Veccio
4. Data applications – Michael Lanning
5. Monitoring Discards (NEFOP, ASM, Scallop, herring) – Amy Van Atten
a. Fisherman perspectives – David Goethel
b. Alternative Monitoring Plans – Jessica Joyce
i. Proportional monitoring proposal – Jenny Sun
ii. Fixed-discard monitoring proposal – Dan Salerno
6. Study Fleet/eVTR – John Hoey
7. Data Sharing – Cate O’Keefe
8. Data Integration
a. for stock assessments – Susan Wigley
b. for sector monitoring – Tony Conigliari
c. for sector management – Libby Etrie
9. The future of NMFS data collection programs (“process B”) – Doug Christel
10. Discussion
Dinner at Waterfront Grille (organized but not funded by MFI, please RSVP by February 24 to ekeiley@umassd.edu)
Wednesday February 26 (10:30-1:00) Waterfront Grille (lunch provided by MFI)
1. Panel discussion
2. Recommendations
3. Consensus statements
a. Short-term recommendations
b. long-term recommendations
Read the Scoping Meeting Report from the MFI
Read the Environmental Change Workshop Summary from the MFI
Read the Reference Points and Buffers Workshop Summary from the MFI