Report of the Workshop on Maturity Staging of Mackerel and Horse Mackerel (WKMSMAC2)

WKMSMAC2 met 28 September–2 October 2015 in Lisbon, Portugal. 32 participants from 8 countries (representing 13 different institutes from ICES member countries and the Mediterranean area) participated in the meeting. The meeting aimed to validate the international maturity stages for Scomber scombrus, Scomber colias, Trachurus trachurus and Trachurus mediterraneus as proposed by WKMSMAC in 2007 and prepare conver-sion tables for the maturity scales used by the institutes to the international scale.Evaluation of maturity scalesThe maturity scales as proposed by WKMSMAC2 in 2007 have not been incorporated by all countries. It became apparent that institutes have not been reporting maturity stages to ICES in the international scale. Hence, maturity stages for mackerel and horse mackerel from the different institutes since 2007 do not correspond. Mediterranean countries have all reported in the agreed MEDITS scale.For all scales, conversion tables are presented to the international agreed scale.