Report of the Saithe (Coalfish) Working Group

At the 70th Statutory Meeting of lCES it was decided (C. Res. 1982/2:5:3) that the Saithe Working Group should meet at lCES headquarters 3-9 March 1983* to:

(i) re-analyse the tagging da ta to describe the re1ationships between the North Sea and the Northeast Arctic saithe stocks,

(ii) assess catch options for the saithe stocks and the cod and haddock in the Faroe inside safe bio10gical limits for 1984 and, where meaningful, for 1985,

(iii) consider which of the above stocks could be assessed at 2-year intervals , with advice being given as a 2-year forecast; if it would be meaningful to produce such a prediction now, then the Working Group should do so,

(iv) review which data are availab1e in the Working Group files for evaluating density dependence in the parameters of the models used in fish stock assessment,

(v) specify deficiencies in data required for assessments