Priorities of the Working Groups and Subgroup for the next four years

The Scientific Committee encouraged Members to consider potential ways in which its work could be streamlined. In early September the Chair and the Vice Chairs of the Scientific Committee, and Conveners of the Working Groups and Subgroup, together with the Secretariat held a tele-conference to discuss how to best address this issue at the Scientific Committee this year. The meeting agreed that the Conveners of the Working Groups (WG-EMM, WG-SAM, and WG-FSA) and the Subgroup (SG-ASAM) prepare a joint SC paper summarising priorities of each group for the next 4 years for the basis of the discussion at the Scientific Committee.

Main points of this paper:

• WG-EMM: Progressing the staged approach for developing the Feedback Management for krill fishery must be the priority for the WG-EMM for the next 4 years. This is solely a task for WG-EMM but will require close interactions with other groups to seek evaluations and advice on specific issues under their expertise.
• WG-SAM continues to develop the methods necessary to construct robust integrated stock assessments and implement the decision rules.
• WG-FSA does not have to sit for two weeks every year and a shorter meeting in non-assessment years could enable targeted workshops to be held to address specific topics at other times of the year to enable the broadest participation of experts.
• Developing a clear common understanding of where we are heading with research plans in data poor fisheries could help to free up time for other business.
• The SG-ASAM was established to address the needs for proper acoustic estimation of Antarctic krill and icefish. The current work of SG-ASAM closely links with feedback management, the priority work of WG-EMM and the SC in general.