Final report of the Working Group on Nephrops Surveys (WGNEPS)

The second meeting of the Working Group on Nephrops Surveys (WGNEPS; formerly known as SGNEPS until 2012) took place on 10–13 November 2015 in Cadiz, Spain. The meeting was chaired by Ana Leocádio (Cefas, UK), and attended by the follow-ing countries: Ireland, Portugal, Denmark, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, Spain, France, and Italy. WGNEPS is the coordination Expert Group for Nephrops UWTV and Trawls surveys within the ICES areas and in a preliminary and exploratory way in some Geographical sub-areas (GSA) in the Mediterranean. Various updates on survey design were presented, discussed and concluded by the Expert Group (EG) at the meeting. Coordination between surveys across countries and laboratories was also carried out at the meeting. WGNEPS adopted multi-annual ToRs in 2013 and this meeting focused mainly on finalizing the SISP (Series of ICES Survey Protocols) and the CRR (Cooperative Research Report) documents, continuing the work initiated during the 2013 meeting. Both SISP and CRR should be completed early 2016. Addi-tionally a new set of ToRs was discussed for 2016–2018.