International Review Panel Report for the 2007 International Fisheries Stock Assessment workshop

The Workshop focused on the South African Pelagic (Sardine-Anchovy) and West and South Coast Rock Lobster resources, and particularly on Operational Management Procedure (OMP) revisions for the first two due to be completed later in 2007, and assessment approaches for the last. Some other issues were also discussed, including penguin-pelagic fish interactions and the inclusion of environmental data in resource assessments. The Workshop was funded jointly by the National Research Foundation (through a research grant to D S Butterworth), the South African Pelagic Fishing Industry Association and the South African West and South Coast Rock Lobster Associations.

An External Review Panel of four invited scientists participated in the Workshop. These were Tony Smith (CSIRO, Australia) who chaired the event, Ray Conser (NMFS, USA), Mark Maunder (IATTC, USA) and André Punt (University of Washington, USA and CSIRO, Australia). The event was well attended by both local industry and marine scientists, with up to 50 present on some occasions.

This report does not cover all the discussions that took place. Instead it is comprised of two primary Annexes related to key elements of these discussions.