Report of the Working Group on the Science Re-quirements to Support Conservation, Restoration and Management of Diadromous Species (WGRECORDS)

WGRECORDS was established to provide a forum for the coordination of work on diadromous species following the disbanding of the Diadromous Fish Committee. The role of the Group is to coordinate work on diadromous species, organize Expert Groups, Theme Sessions and Symposia, and help to deliver the ICES Science Plan. WGRECORDS held an informal meeting on 6th June 2012, during the NASCO Annual Meeting in Edinburgh, UK. The annual meeting of WGRECORDS was held on 19th and 20th September 2012, during the ICES Annual Science Conference in Bergen, Norway. The meetings were chaired by Niall Ó Maoiléidigh (Ireland) and Atso Romakkaniemi (Finland).At the informal meeting in Edinburgh, initial discussions were held on the require-ments for Expert Groups to address new and ongoing issues on Atlantic salmon in-cluding issues arising from the NASCO Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting received reports from all the ICES Expert Groups working on diadromous species, and considered their progress and future requirements. Particular interest was noted by groups working in different areas in:• continuing declines in eel and salmon stocks• ongoing methods to provide scientific advice for salmon and sea trout fisheries in the Baltic• data collection procedures adopted for salmon in the Baltic and North At-lantic under the new EU DC-MAP;• coordination of research on data poor diadromous fish stocks• progress with EU project (ECOKNOWS) relating to forecasting and risk analyses• outcomes of a number of recent sea trout project• advances in digital scale reading methodologies.