Report of the ICES Study Group on Acoustic Seabed Classification (SGASC)

The ICES Study Group on Acoustic Seabed Classification (SGASC) met at the Food and Ag-ricultural Organization of the United Nations in Rome Italy, from 23–24 April 2005. John Anderson (Canada) was Chair of the meeting and William Michaels (USA) was Rapporteur. There were 21 participants from seven countries and representatives from four industry groups. Members of the Study Group had worked by correspondence during the previous year drafting chapters for a proposed ICES Cooperative Research Report (CRR). These chapters were structured as first and second order chapters, where the first order chapters (Chapters 1–5, ICES Fisheries Technology Committee, ICES CM 2004/B:03, Ref. ACE, E) were written initially to provide a background for writing the remaining chapters. During this period further revisions of the proposed CRR chapter structure occurred via correspondence. The draft ver-sions of the chapters were presented and critically reviewed during the 2005 meeting of the Study Group. The first order chapters were considered to be complete in draft form while the second order chapters were well developed but still needed further work. The Study Group will continue to work by correspondence during the coming year to fully develop written ver-sions of each chapter for the CRR.