International Review Panel Report for the 2010 International Fisheries Stock Assessment workshop

The Panel wishes to recognize the world-leading quality of the research presented at the 2010 International Fisheries Stock Assessment Workshop. The amount of work conducted by the small group of biologists and modellers would be the envy of any management agency worldwide. The Panel was presented with research related to West Coast rock lobster, African penguins, sardine and anchovy, Cape hake, and humpback whales. It also considered research related to management procedures for data-poor stocks, and methods to evaluate approaches for estimating time-varying selectivity.

This report begins with some comments which pertain to all of the resources and problems reviewed. The remainder of the report lists the recommendations and conclusions of the Panel for West Coast rock lobster, African penguins, sardine and anchovy, Cape hake, and data-poor management procedures. The Panel deliberations were guided by a set of key questions (see Appendix 1) and the text in square parentheses at the end of some of the recommendations pertains to these key questions. The Panel did not address all of the key questions. The recommendations are annotated by their priorities (H, M, L and conclusions are indicated by asterisks). For rock lobster, penguins and sardine-anchovy, the high priority items should be completed as part of the current round of OMP revisions.