Report on the seventh dialogue meeting

The Seventh ICES Dialogue Meeting was held on 28 November 1989 in the Strand Palace Hotel, London. It was co-sponsored by ICES, the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) and the International Baltic Sea Fishery Commission (IBSFC). The main theme of the meeting concerned the biological, economic and social considerations in determining the objectives of fishery management, taking into account the management of shared stocks. The aim of all Dialogue Meetings has been to promote communication among three groups of people concerned with fisheries management, namely 1) fishery scientists, 2) national and international administrators and 3) members of the fishing industry. Each group was well represented making a balanced discussion possible. Of the approximately 110 participants (from 14 countries), 28% were scientists, 37% were administrators and 35% represented the industry. A list of participants is given in Appendix 1. The meeting was conducted in English but simultaneous interpretation into English, French and Spanish was provided by the Commission of the European Community. The meeting was chaired by Mr Jakob Jakobsson, President of ICES. Four speakers representing fisheries science, economics, administration and the fishing industry presented papers and led the discussion. The speakers were Dr John Shepherd (MAFF Fisheries Laboratory, Lowestoft), Professor Rognvaldur Hannesson (Norwegian school of Economics and Business Administration, Bergen), Mr Michael Holden (Commission of the European Communities, Brussels) and Mr John Goodlad (Shetland Fishermen's Association, Lerwick). The ICES General Secretary and Statistician acted as rapporteurs. The meeting comprised two sessions, one on Stability and the other on Objectives, with each beginning with presentations from the speakers and ending with open discussion. Copies of all the papers prepared by the speakers had been circulated to participants prior to the meeting. Copies of reports of the ICES Advisory Committee on Fishery Management (ACFM) for 1989 were available at the meeting together with samples of 1989 ICES assessment working group reports. A list of technical terms and their definitions, which was available at the meeting, is given in Appendix 2.