Over Monday 30 November to Friday 4 December 2015, the annual International Stock Assessment Workshop funded by the NRF and DAFF will be taking place at UCT (Mathematics Building Room M212).

This year the four scientists invited to comprise the Review Panel are Alistair Dunn (New Zealand), Malcolm Haddon (Australia), Ana Parma (Argentina) and André Punt (USA).

Topics

1. South African and Namibian hake (primary topic) — a review of progress on assessment models which take account of cannibalism and inter-species predation between the two species that comprise this resource
2. Sardine — a review of progress on multi-stock assessment models for the South African sardine resource and their implications for management
3. Penguin-fishery interactions — a review of results of analyses related to monitoring results from an island closure study. Ultimately, this is intended to lead to information on the potential benefits or otherwise to penguins of closed areas around the islands with penguin breeding colonies and to pelagic fishing.

Schedule

Discussion will take place from 9 am to 5-30 pm each day, with 30 minutes breaks for tea at 10-30 am and 3-30 pm, and 90 minutes for lunch at 12-30 pm, except for the Thursday afternoon which will be reserved for the Panel to work on preparation of their report. A detailed schedule indicating which topics will be discussed is available on the MARAM site.

For the most part discussions will be at a fairly high technical level, but on the final day (Friday 4th) at 3-30 pm in room M304 of the UCT Mathematics Building, the International Review Panel will provide a summary of their recommendations at a level suitable for a lay audience, and open for questions from that audience. Dr Kim Prochazka, Director Resources Research, DAFF Fisheries Branch, will chair this session.

Documentation and attendance

Documents for background and for discussion at the event will be posted on this website for prior download as they become available. Attendees are asked to bring their own copies of documents to the meeting as those posted on the website will not be made available in other forms. However, for technical reasons, there may be some documents which cannot be made available in this way; these will be emailed to those who advise attendance as requested below, and a limited number of hard copies will be available during the event.

Because of the need to maintain a workshop type interaction, Chairs will limit discussion during each session primarily to panel members and selected key contributors seated at the central table. However others are welcome to attend any of the sessions, and their interventions will be entertained in the discussions to the extent that time permits.

For any enquiries please contact Di Loureiro.