The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) recently released its 2017 Pacific Halibut Stock Assessment. The preliminary assessment was among topics discussed at the 93rd Session of its Interim Meeting at the Grand Hyatt Seattle in Seattle, Washington on 28 and 29 November 2017.
The 2017 stock assessment is based on an ensemble of four models used since 2014. Recruitment cohorts from 2006 through 2013 are estimated to be smaller than those from 1999-2005, indicating a high probability of decline in both the stock and fishery yield as recent recruitments become increasingly important to the age range over which much of the harvest and spawning takes place.
A summary of the preliminary 2017 stock assessment results is presented in paper IPHC-2017-IM093-08 on the IPHC website at http://iphc.int/, and will be updated for the 94th Annual Meeting.
The 94th Session of the IPHC Annual Meeting (AM094) will be held 22-26 January 2018 at the Hilton Portland Downtown in Portland, Oregon, USA. New this year, the meeting will require attendees to pre-register.
The meeting is scheduled to open on Monday with presentations on the fishery, the 2017 stock assessment, and the harvest decision table, and conclude on Friday. All sessions are open to the public and webcast.
The most up-to-date information regarding the 2018 Annual Meeting (AM094) can be found on the Annual Meeting page of the Commission’s website (http://www.iphc.int/).
source: International Pacific Halibut Commission