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Pacific Hake/Whiting Treaty: Scientific Review Group Meeting

The Scientific Review Group will meet in February 2026 to review the draft Pacific hake/whiting stock assessment.
Meeting |
West Coast

About

The Scientific Review Group (SRG) created under the Pacific Whiting Treaty between the Governments of the United States and Canada will meet on February 10-13, 2026 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, to review and provide a report on the draft 2026 stock assessment authored by the Treaty’s Joint Technical Committee (JTC). Preliminary agenda items include: an overview of 2025 fisheries catch data, presentation and review of the 2026 draft stock assessment, and discussion of the 2025 Integrated Survey, and future research projects.

There will be opportunity for public comment.

Background information and documents for this meeting can be found on the Pacific Hake/Whiting Treaty page.

Event Info

Location

Departure Bay Room A/B 
Vancouver Island Conference Centre 
101 Gordon Street 
Nanaimo, BC V9R 5J8

Remote Attendance

To join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone, click the link below: 
https://meet.google.com/djh-jgyr-ufp

  1. If prompted, enter the meeting code: djh-jgyr-ufp
  2. Click “Join”
  3. Sign into a Google account

- OR -

if you do not have a Google Account, enter a nickname and click “Ask to join” meeting. The meeting organizer will you grant access.

To join the meeting by phone-only, call:

United States (toll): +1 (478) 974-9012 
US PIN: 878 796 258 #
Canada (toll): +1 (437) 781-4585
CA PIN: 884 018 826 7159#

Schedule

Day 1

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Departure Bay Room A/B

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

DRAFT

9:00: Welcome and Introductions

  • Resolve immediate connection/communication problems

9:15: Review and Approve Meeting Agenda (Chair)

  • Review Terms of Reference for Assessments and Review Meeting
  • Meeting report mechanics and final due dates
  • Assignment of reporting duties
  • Review of meeting norms and expected behaviors
  • Review procedures for resolving communication issues throughout the meeting

9:30: Fisheries, Data, and Inputs Used and Not Used in the 2026 Assessment (JTC & AP Advisors)

  • 2025 Fisheries Reports
  • Canadian Waters
  • U.S. Waters
  • 2025 Fisheries Catch, Size, and Age Composition Data

10:15: 2026 Pacific Hake/Whiting Assessment Modeling (JTC)

  • Justification of base model (catch-only projection approach)
  • Assessment results and discussion
  • Forecasts and management implications

10:30: Break

10:45: 2026 Pacific Hake/Whiting Assessment Modeling (cont.) (JTC)

  • SRG Discussion

12:00: Lunch

13:30: Risk table approach and ecosystem considerations for interpreting the stock assessment (JTC/Mary Hunsicker)

14:15: Responses to 2025 SRG Stock Assessment Recommendations (JTC)

  • SRG discussion, develop list of requests for JTC, as needed

15:00: Break

15:15: Public Comment

15:30: SRG discussion, develop list of requests for JTC, as needed

17:00: Adjourn for the day

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Departure Bay Room A/B

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

DRAFT

09:00: Discussion of the previous day, follow-up questions, review results of assigned tasks

09:30: Review of Survey (Survey Team)

  • NOAA Fisheries Integrated West Coast Pelagic Survey (IWCPS) overview
  • Implications of Summer 2025 IWCPS survey execution for interpretation of 2025 biomass estimate and comparability with previous survey time-series
  • Overview of the 2025 Joint U.S.-Canada Hake Survey/IWCPS Survey
  • SRG Discussion & Recommendations
  • Have the changes to the survey in 2025 (transect spacing, spatial extent, trawl sampling) resulted in important changes in bias or uncertainty?
  • If so, have these changes resulted in important changes in the survey-derived data inputs for the stock assessment (biomass, age composition, weight-at-age, age-1 index)?

10:45: Break

11:00: Acoustic trawl methodology review (Survey Team)

  • Net selectivity research
  • Plans for implementing a selectivity correction in the biomass estimate
  • Implications of MFT selectivity for interpretation of 2025 biomass estimate and comparability with previous survey time-series
  • SRG Discussion & Recommendations
  • Has the change to the MFT net resulted in important changes in the species- or length-selectivity?
  • If so, have these changes resulted in important changes in the survey-derived data inputs for the stock assessment (biomass, age composition, weight-at-age, age-1 index)?
  • Recommendations for planned implementation of selectivity correction in the biomass estimates and proposed back-correction of the time series

12:00: Lunch

13:30: Review of 2025 Survey biomass estimate (Survey Team)

  • 2025 biomass estimate, methodology, sensitivities, and discussion of uncertainties
  • SRG Discussion and Recommendations
  • Characterize the uncertainty and any potential bias of the 2025 biomass estimate compared to the previous time-series of survey observations
  • Can the 2025 biomass estimate provide context for the 2025 stock assessment and how it should be used for management?
  • How should the 2025 biomass estimate be incorporated in future stock assessments?

14:30: Review of other 2025 SRG Survey Recommendations (Survey Team)

  • Comparison of survey and industry spatial footprint and temporal overlap
  • Progress on any other 2025 SRG requests

15:00: Break

15:15: Survey-related research update and plans for 2026 (Survey Team)

16:15: Public Comment

16:30: SRG discussion, requests for additional information from JTC and Survey Team, as needed

17:00: Adjourn for the day

Thursday, February 12, 2026

Departure Bay Room A/B

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

DRAFT

09:00: Discussion of the previous day, follow-up questions, review any responses to requests from the previous day

09:30: Assessment-related research (JTC)

  • Progress on an exploratory fleets-as-areas model
  • Implications for alternative selectivity patterns on reference points
  • Progress on implementing the hake assessment using the Fisheries Integrated Modeling System (FIMS)

10:30: Break

10:45: Hake multispecies stock assessment with CEATTLE (Raquel Ruiz Diaz, UW)

11:30: Using highest density intervals to reduce perceived uncertainty in the Pacific Hake stock assessment (Andrew Edwards, DFO)

12:00: Lunch

13:30: Other Relevant Hake Research (JTC and Guest Researchers)

15:30: Break

15:30: SRG discussion, requests for additional information from JTC and Survey Team, as needed

16:15: Public Comment

17:00: Adjourn for the day

Friday, February 13, 2026

Departure Bay Room A/B

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

DRAFT

09:00: Discussion of the previous day, follow-up questions, etc.

09:30: SRG Discussion & Work Session

  • Stock assessment finalization and management outcomes (as needed)
  • Finalize research needs/priorities for assessment, survey, and MSE

10:30: Break

10:45: SRG discussion continued of research needs for 2026 and longer-term

  • Evaluation of base model and primary sources of uncertainty
  • MSE methodology and approaches

12:00: Lunch

13:30: Final SRG discussion , report review, requests for additional information, etc.

Distribution and review status of notes and draft SRG Report

15:00: Break

16:00: Public Comment

17:00: SRG Meeting Adjourn

Last updated by West Coast Regional Office on 03/25/2026