SEDAR 68 CIE Reviewer Report - Cardinale

This document is the individual CIE Reviewer report of the SEDAR 68 Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Scamp assessment conducted during August-September 2021 and provided at the request of the Center for Independent Experts (CIE).

This report solely represents the view of the independent reviewer (Prof. Massimiliano Cardinale). The text in this report is mainly based on the original assessment reports and background documents provided to the reviewer in advance of the meeting.

The Assessment team tackled all the assigned terms of reference (TORs).

The reviewer considers that the Assessment team has done a satisfactory job in carrying out the assessment, analysing all available data, modelling part of the uncertainty and providing some sensitivity analyses of both the data and the models. However, the reviewer does not completely agree with all of the findings reported in the SEDAR 68 Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Scamp assessment report. Taking into account all available information, the reviewer considers that a single best model cannot be singled out to be used for advice. Instead, given the uncertainties in the data used as input, and in key biological parameters and processes, a model ensemble should be developed in the future.

Independent peer review report of the SEDAR 68 Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Scamp assessment review Prepared for the Center for Independent Experts

By Professor Massimiliano Cardinale