Report of the Study Group on Survey Trawl Gear for the IBTS Western and Southern Areas (SGSTS)

a) conduct a review of the current uses and needs for IBTS data to determine potential uses and users of the data from the surveys in terms of stock assessment, species distribution and marine ecosystem applications e.g., biodiversity;b) conduct a review of the current survey trawl gears to recommend standardisation of current methodology,c) consider other candidate gears that would be suitable for use in all areas after suitable modification;d) propose a minimum number of candidate net and ground gear configurations;e) supervise modification and field trials of candidate trawl gears;f) determine standardized trawling procedures after appropriate trawl gear has been chosen, in relation to the procedures used in the North Sea;g) define the required scope of continuing intercalibration work required to maintain continuity in time series, including the North Sea time series;h) recommend appropriate survey design for multi-vessel/gear permutations such as stratification, overlap, and the combining of data to provide indices of abundance and biodiversity and any other appropriate indicators of stock and regional scales.