Report of the Ad hoc Group on Sandeel - II

AGSAN2 (chair: T. Jakobsen) met at ICES Headquarters, Copenhagen 19-21 October 2009. The list of participants is given in Annex 1. The group addressed the procedure for real time monitoring in 2010 and made a plan for preparations for a benchmark assessment. The group updated the assessment, standardised the cpue, and revised the formula used for Real Time Monitoring.

As preparation for the benchmark meeting, the group revisited the stock structure, based on modelling of particle drift and other relevant information and agreed on splitting the sandeel in the North Sea into six assessment areas. The group discussed the potential for local depletion of the fishing banks and proposals for management measures to prevent such depletion. The management measures to be introduced in the Norwegian EEZ are described. Data requirements for the benchmark were identi-fied and a detailed plan with commitments for submission of data at certain dates was drawn up (Section 5).

The Working Group recommends that a benchmark meeting is arranged in August 2010, which would be the last possibility if the results are to be applied in the 2011 management and would allow the results of the Norwegian acoustic survey in April-May 2010 to be included in the evaluation.