Report of the Working Group on Anchovy and Sardine (WGANSA)

The Working Group on Anchovy and Sardine (WGANSA) met at IPIMAR, Lisbon 24-28 June 2010, chaired by Dankert Skagen, Norway. There were 10 participants from France, Portugal, Spain and Norway. The main task was to assess the state of the stock and to provide short term predictions for the stocks of Anchovy in Subarea VIII and in Division IXa, and for Sardine in Divisions VIIIc and IXa. All assessments were updates of previous assessments.

The time interval between finalizing the key surveys and the managers decision is short, and the timing of the WG has been problematic. This year, it was held 9 days later than last year, which allowed a better control of the input to the assessment