STANDING COMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND STATISTICS (SCRS) (Hotel Velázquez, Madrid, 29 September to 3 October, 2014) TENTATIVE AGENDA Original: English 1. Opening of the meeting 2. Adoption of Agenda and arrangements for the meeting 3. Introduction of Contracting Party delegations * 4. Introduction and admission of observers * 5. Admission of scientific documents 6. Report of Secretariat activities in research and statistics 7. Review of national fisheries and research programs ** 8. Executive Summaries on species: YFT-Yellowfin, BET-Bigeye, SKJ-Skipjack, ALB-Albacore, BFT-Bluefin, BUM-Blue marlin, WHM-White marlin, SAI-Sailfish, SWO-Atl. Swordfish, SWO-Med. Swordfish, SMT-Small Tunas, SHK-Sharks 9. Report of inter-sessional SCRS meetings 9.1 Sharks species group intersessional meeting 9.2 Meeting of the ICCAT Working Group on Stock Assessment Methods 9.3 Bluefin Data preparatory Meeting 9.4 Billfishes species group intersessional meeting 9.5 Skipjack stock assessment meeting 9.6 Mediterranean swordfish stock assessment meeting 9.7 Bluefin stock assessment meeting 10. Report of Special Research Programs 10.1 Atlantic Wide Research Programme for Bluefin tuna (GBYP) 10.2 Enhanced Research Program for Billfish 10.3 Small Tunas Research Program 11. Report of the Sub-Committee on Statistics 12. Report of the Sub-Committee on Ecosystems 13. Report of the Working Group of Fisheries Managers and Scientists in support of the W-BFT stock assessment 14. Report of the Standing Working Group to Enhance Dialogue between Fisheries Scientists and Managers 15. Presentation of the Science Strategic Plan for 2015-2020, including estimated budget Page 1 of 5
16. Consideration of plans for future activities 16.1 Annual Work Plans 16.2 Inter-sessional meetings proposed for 2015 16.3 Date and place of the next meeting of the SCRS 17. General recommendations to the Commission 17.1 General recommendations to the Commission that have financial implications 17.2 Other recommendations 18. Responses to Commission's requests *** 18.1 Evaluate the efficacy of the area/time closure referred to in paragraph 20 for the reduction of catches of juvenile bigeye and yellowfin Rec. [11-01] paragraphs 22. 18.2 Review the technical specifications of the use of stereoscopic cameras systems as defined in Rec. [13-08] 18.3 Continue to explore operationally viable technologies and methodologies for determining the size and biomass at the points of capture and caging and evaluate the BFT pilot studies to estimate both the number and weight of bluefin tuna at the point of capture and caging using stereoscopical systems, Rec.[13-07] paragraph 88. 18.4 Evaluate the BFT national observer programmes conducted by CPCs to report the Commission and to provide advice on future improvements, Rec.[13-07] paragraph 90. 18.5 Provide updated BFT growth rates tables based in the information from BCDs and other submitted data, Rec.[13-07], paragraph. 98. 18.6 Provide answer to the requests from the 2 nd WG WBFT Fisheries Managers and Scientists. 18.7 Evaluation of data deficiencies pursuant to [Rec. 05-09]. 18.8 Provide an update on the progress of the work on Sargasso Sea. Res. [12-12] paragraphs 1 and 2. 18.9 Definition of the SCRS plan for future sea turtle impact analyses Rec. [13-11] paragraph 4. 18.10 Provide answer to the requests from the First Meeting of the Working Group on Convention Amendment 19. Other matters 19.1 Collaboration with other International Organizations 19.2 Consideration of implications of the 9th Meeting of the Working Group on Integrated Monitoring Measures and the Second Meeting of the Working Group on Convention Amendment. 20. Election of SCRS Chair 21. Adoption of report and closure * The Executive Secretary will list the Contracting Parties and Observer Delegations present. Any statements should be presented in writing only. ** The text to be included in the SCRS report should be very short and presented in writing on or before 1 October. Oral presentations, if any, should be brief and focus on aspects that are not covered elsewhere by the individual species groups. *** Responses derived from the results of 2014 stock assessments for East and West Atlantic skipjack and western bluefin and eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Bluefin stock are included in Agenda Item 8. Page 2 of 5
2014 TENTATIVE AGENDA OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON STATISTICS (ICCAT Secretariat, 22-23 September 2014) 1. Opening, adoption of Agenda and meeting arrangements 2. Review of fisheries and biological data (new and historical revisions) submitted during 2014 2.1 Task I (nominal catches and fleet characteristics) 2.2 Task II (catch & effort and size samples) 2.3 Tagging 2.4 GBYP data and information (Trade information and others) 2.5 ICCAT biometric relationships and other conversion factors, revision and update workplan. 2.6 Other relevant statistics 3. Review of criteria applied to ICCAT statistics 3.1 New sampling areas proposal 3.2 Application of Filters 1 and 2 on data submission 3.3 Recommendation of WGSAM on spatial strata for Task II catch and effort data 3.4 Proposal for updating the definition of tuna and tuna-like species under the ICCAT Convention as defined when the Convention was adopted in 1969. 3.5 Species covered by the term oceanic, pelagic and highly migratory elasmobranchs 4. Review of ICCAT-DB (ICCAT relational database system) 4.1 Development status 4.2 ICCAT-DB documentation and its publication (ICCAT cloud status) 4.3 ICCAT-DB migration from Microsoft-ACCESS to other platform. 5. National and international statistical activities 5.1 International and inter-agency coordination and planning (FAO, CLAV, CWP, FIRMS) 5.2 National data collection systems and improvements 6. Report on data improvement activities 6.1 ICCAT-Japan Data and Management Improvement Project 6.2 Data Funds from [Res. 03-21] 6.3 Data recovery activities 6.4 BFT-E VMS data 6.5 BFT-E observer data 6.6 BFT-E weekly catch reports 6.7 Transhipment observer data 7. Review of Secretariat yearly based fishery datasets estimations and dissemination 7.1 CATDIS 7.2 CAS (catch-at-size) and CAA (catch-at-age) 7.3 Others (e.g. EffDIS) 8. Review of publications and data dissemination 8.1 Revise alternatives to the ICCAT-Aquatic Living Resources publication agreement. 8.2 ICCAT publications 8.3 Development of web based tutorial for ICCAT data submission 9. Future development plan for the ICCAT Manual 10. Consideration of recommendations from 2014 inter-sessional meetings Page 3 of 5
11. Evaluation of data deficiencies pursuant to [Rec. 05-09] 11.1 Current data catalogues of major species by stock 11.2 Implications of identified deficiencies in future stock assessments 11.3 Proposals for data recovery plans and improvements on data collections systems 12. Review of existing data submission policy 12.1 Formats (e-forms improvements to account with current fishery practices) 12.2 Improvements to the ICCAT coding system 12.3 Rules applied to historical data revisions 12.4 Review of the deadlines for submitting statistics to SCRS inter-sessional meetings 12.5 Other related matters 13. Review of the inventory of ongoing and recent investments in tuna artisanal fisheries in the West Africa coastal States 14. Other matters 14.1 Review progress on prior year recommendations of the Sub-Committee on Statistics 15. Future plans and recommendations 16. Adoption of the report and closure. 2014 TENTATIVE AGENDA OF THE TROPICAL SPECIES GROUP (ICCAT Secretariat, 24-26 September 2014) 2 Evaluate the efficacy of the area/time closure referred to in paragraph 20 for the reduction of catches of juvenile bigeye and yellowfin Rec.[11-01] paragraphs 22. 3. Review the Feasibility Study for the AOTTP 4. Update of the BET, SKJ, YFT Executive Summaries 5. Workplan and recommendations for 2015 2014 TENTATIVE AGENDA OF THE BLUEFIN SPECIES GROUP (ICCAT Secretariat, 22-27 September 2014) 2. Review and, if necessary, revise the updated assessments of western and eastern/mediterranean bluefin tuna produced by the intersessional working groups. 3. Conduct a preliminary new assessment of the eastern/mediterranean bluefin tuna from CAS generated including data obtained from different sources (GBYP, farms size sampling, etc.). 4. Responses to the Commission: 4.1 Continue to explore operationally viable technologies and methodologies for determining the size and biomass at the points of capture and caging and evaluate the BFT pilot studies to estimate both the number and weight of bluefin tuna at the point of capture and caging using stereoscopical systems, Rec.[13-07] paragraph 88. 4.2 Evaluate the BFT national observer programmes conducted by CPCs to report the Commission and to provide advice on future improvements, Rec.[13-07] paragraph 90. 4.3 Provide updated BFT growth rates tables based in the information from BCDs and other submitted data, Rec.[13-07], paragraph 98. Page 4 of 5
4.4 Review the technical specifications of the use of stereoscopic cameras systems as defined in Rec. [13-08]. 4.5 Provide answer to the requests from the 2nd WG WBFT Fisheries Managers and Scientists. 5 Update of the BFT Executive Summary 6. Workplan and recommendations for 2015 2014 TENTATIVE AGENDA OF THE BILLFISH SPECIES GROUP (ICCAT Secretariat, 24 September 2014) 2. Update of the Executive Summaries SAI, WHM and BUM 3. Plans for the Enhanced Research Program for Billfish 4. Workplan and recommendations for 2015 2014 TENTATIVE AGENDA OF THE SWORDFISH SPECIES GROUP (ICCAT Secretariat, 25 September 2014) 1. Review of new scientific documents for the Atlantic and Mediterranean swordfish 2. Update of the Executive Summaries for North and South Atlantic and Mediterranean swordfish 3. Workplan and recommendations for 2015 2014 TENTATIVE AGENDA OF THE ALBACORE SPECIES GROUP (ICCAT Secretariat, 26 September 2014) 1. Review of new scientific documents for the Atlantic and Mediterranean albacore 2. Update of the Executive Summaries for North and South Atlantic and Mediterranean albacore 3. Workplan and recommendations for 2015 2014 TENTATIVE AGENDA OF THE SMALL TUNA SPECIES GROUP (ICCAT Secretariat, 26 September 2014) 2. Update of the Executive Summary for SMT 3. Review the work conducted under the Small Tuna Research Program (SMTRP) 4. Workplan and recommendations for 2015 2014 TENTATIVE AGENDA OF THE SHARK SPECIES GROUP (ICCAT Secretariat, 24-25 September 2014) 2. Update of the Sharks Executive Summary 3. Complete the Sharks Research and Data Collection Program. 4. Species covered by the term oceanic, pelagic and highly migratory elasmobranchs 5. Workplan and recommendations for 2015 Page 5 of 5