[FLR-list] Special Edition of Fisheries Research on Data Poor Method

[Laurie]

Dear All

There is to be a Special Edition of Fisheries Research on Data Poor 
Methods, see below

Laurie


Proposal: Special Issue of Fisheries Research on “Development, Testing, 
and Evaluation of Data-Poor Assessment and Management Methods”

Rationale:

A small fraction of exploited fish stocks are assessed using 
conventional stock assessment methods (Costello et al., 2012; Thorson et 
al., 2012). For example in 2006, 30% of U.S. (FSSI) stocks and complexes 
are unassessed, while percentages are even higher elsewhere (Australia: 
48%; New Zealand: 78%) (Beddington et al., 2007). In Europe, of the more 
than 200 stocks for which ICES (International Council for the 
Exploration of the Sea) provides advice, 61% do not have population 
estimates from which ICES can derive catch options using its own MSY 
framework (ICES, 2012). In addition, overfishing limits are now 
mandatory for all federally-managed fish stocks in the U.S., and are 
increasingly recommended based on catch data (Berkson et al. in press) 
while recommendations for catch limits and management actions are 
increasingly being required in jurisdictions outside of the US. For 
example in Europe, pressure from advice recipients has led ICES to 
develop a framework for providing quantitative advice for all stocks 
that require such advice (including data-limited stocks) that it terms 
the Data-Limited Stocks (DLS) approach (ICES, 2012)
There are many new methods to assist in the provision of management 
advice. These include methods for estimating overfishing limits and 
stock status from catch and auxiliary information such as DB-SRA (Dick 
and MacCall, 2011), C-MSY (Martell and Froese, In press), SS-COM 
(Thorson et al., In press) and ORCS (Berkson et al., 2011). New 
approaches include multi-tiered approaches to natural resource 
management that can incorporate qualitative and semi-quantitative 
results (Hobday et al., 2011), as provided by data-poor methods, and can 
use these to improve management outcomes. However, these methods have 
received little testing and control rules using these methods have not 
been developed or tested. The general topic of assessment and management 
of data-poor species has received attention in the literature before, 
but we believe that a Special Issue of Fisheries Research will provide a 
timely opportunity to review the current state of the art and identify 
emerging methods, as well as provide an overview of the performance of 
these methods. We expect that the papers from the Special Issue will be 
highly-cited within the fisheries research community.

Proposal
The structure of the proposed Special Issue will center around the 
primary themes:
New methods for data-poor assessment and management
Review of past uses and deficiencies
Simulation testing and comparison among approaches
Prospects for alternative management and data-collection protocols for 
data-poor stocks
We expected 20-25 papers to be submitted after which 15-20 are likely to 
be accepted after peer-review. The Appendix lists the current list of 
titles for papers, the authors of which have already indicated an 
interest in providing a manuscript for inclusion in the proceedings.

The proposed Guest Editors:
Dr André Punt (University of Washington, and a Fisheries Research 
Associate Editor)
Dr. James Thorson (NOAA Fisheries, Northwest Fisheries Science Center)
Dr. David Sampson (Orgeon State University, Fisheries Research Editorial 
Board Member)
Dr. Laurie Kell (International Commission for the Conservation of 
Atlantic Tunas, ICCAT).
Dr. José De Oliveira (CEFAS)
Dr. Chris Darby (CEFAS)

The proposed Guest Editors are familiar with assessment and management 
methods and collaborate regularly with the key scientists working on new 
methods for data-poor fisheries. Our contacts include, the east and west 
coasts of North America, South American (Chile and Argentina), Europe, 
Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, as well as the RFMOs 
responsible for assessment and management of large pelagic species in 
Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ).
Dr. Punt will act as the managing editor and decision editor1 for the 
Special Issue. He has been the managing editor for three previous 
Special Issues and is currently the managing editor for the Special 
Issue on the 5th International Billfish Conference. This Special Issue 
on Data-Poor Methods was identified by Dr. Sampson following a call for 
suggestions for Special Issues by Christiane Barranguet.
Dr. Punt will select which of the guest editors will co-ordinate the 
review process for each paper. The tasks to be undertaken by the Guest 
Editors will be to: (a) select reviewers, (b) conduct the review 
process, and (c) conduct an editorial review of accepted papers for 
consistency with Fisheries Research standards.

(Provisional) timeline
30 October 2013: All authors contacted and a final list of papers 
established.
28 February 2014: Deadline for paper submission and selection of 
potential reviewers for each submission (at least 4 per paper - all 
potential reviewers will be approached by email to determine whether 
they can conduct the reviewers within 3-4 weeks of receipt).
31 December 2014: months: Finalization of the review process (including 
revisions made in response to reviewer comments and completion of the 
editorial process).
31 January 2015: Deadline for the return of manuscripts and submission 
of the package to the Fisheries Research office.

Works cited
Beddington, J.R., Agnew, D.J., Clark, C.W., 2007. Current problems in 
the management of marine fisheries. science 316, 1713–1716.
Berkson, J., Barbieri, L., Cadrin, S., Cass-Calay, S., Crone, P., Dorn, 
M., Friess, C., Kobayashi, D., Miller, T.J., Patrick, W.S., 2011. 
Calculating acceptable biological catch for stocks that have reliable 
catch data only (only reliable catch stocks–ORCS). NOAA Technical 
Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC 616, 56.
Costello, C., Ovando, D., Hilborn, R., Gaines, S.G., Deschenes, O., 
Lester, S.E., 2012. Status and solutions for the world’s unassessed 
fisheries. Science 338, 517–520.
Dick, E.J., MacCall, A.D., 2011. Depletion-Based Stock Reduction 
Analysis: A catch-based method for determining sustainable yields for 
data-poor fish stocks. Fish. Res. 110, 331–341.
Hobday, A., Smith, A., Stobutzki, I., Bulman, C., Daley, R., Dambacher, 
J., Deng, R., Dowdney, J., Fuller, M., Furlani, D., Griffiths, S.P., 
Johnson, D., Renyon, R., Knuckey, I.A., Ling, S.., Pitcher, R., 
Sainsbury, K.J., Sporcic, M., Smith, T., Turnbull, C., Walker, T.., 
Wayte, S.E., Webb, H., Williams, A., Wise, B.S., Zhou, S., 2011. 
Ecological risk assessment for the effects of fishing. Fisheries 
Research 108, 372–384.
ICES. 2012. ICES Implementation of Advice for Data-limited Stocks in 
2012 in its 2012 Advice. ICES CM 2012/ACOM 68. 42 pp.
Martell, S., Froese, R., In press. A simple method for estimating MSY 
from catch and resilience. Fish and Fisheries.
Thorson, J.T., Branch, T.A., Jensen, O., 2012. Using model-based 
inference to evaluate global fisheries status from landings, location 
and life history data. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 69, 645–655.
Thorson, J.T., Minto, C., Minte-Vera, C., Kleisner, K., Longo, K., In 
press. A novel role of effort dynamics in the theory and practice of 
marine population dynamics and data-poor stock assessment.