Report of the sprat biology workshop. Bergen, 4-7 November 1986

At its 1983 meeting the Industrial Fisheries Working Group identified the need for a workshop to be held to consider stock separation and other biological problems relating to the assessment of the sprat stocks in the North Sea and adjacent areas. The essential problems were addressed in discussion papers presented at the 1984 and 1985 ICES Statutory Meetings (Bailey 1984,1985), and in 1985 the Pelagic Fish Committee put forward a recommendation that a "sprat biology workshop" should be held late in 1986.