Second Interim Report of the Working Group on Mackerel and Horse Mackerel Egg Surveys (WGMEGS)

The Working Group on Mackerel and Horse Mackerel Egg Surveys (WGMEGS) is responsible for the planning, data collection, and data analysis of the ICES triennial mackerel and horse mackerel egg surveys. 2016 is the year of the actual survey and the working group (WG) performs its duties by correspondence. As such, the out-comes from this report are restricted and focus heavily on the ToRs that are directly involved with the successful execution of the MEGS survey in 2016.The results of the two Workshops on Egg staging, Fecundity and Atresia in Horse mackerel and Mackerel (WKFATHOM) (12–16 October 2015, Hamburg, Germany and 9–12 November 2015, Bergen, Norway) were discussed with the subsequent en-hancements and recommendations proposed during these workshops are outlined in the workshop report (ICES, 2015a) and have also been incorporated into both of the WGMEGS manuals (ICES, 2016a), (ICES, 2016b).