Western Pacific Stock Assessment Review

Stock assessments provide the best scientific information available for effective conservation and management of fisheries, as mandated by the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Fish stock assessments describe the past and current status of a fish stock, estimate population size or abundance, and predict how a fish stock will respond to potential catch limits and other management actions. Stock assessments undergo a peer review process before they are used in fishery management.

The Western Pacific Stock Assessment Review is a cooperative effort between the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, and NOAA Fisheries’ Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and Pacific Islands Regional Office to improve the quality, timeliness, objectivity, and integrity of stock assessments and other scientific information used in Pacific Islands region fishery management.

The Western Pacific Stock Assessment Review framework defines roles and responsibilities, summarizes the scope, and describes the review schedule in coordination with the larger Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council process. Panelists review stock assessments in two broad categories: benchmark reviews and update reviews on an annual schedule. Panelists also review research track assessments through the Center of Independent Experts. The Center of Independent Experts was established in 1998 to routinely provide external, independent, and expert reviews of the agency’s influential science used for policy decisions.

• Benchmark reviews provide the first assessment of a specific stock or include significant changes to previous assessments, such as the use of new a type of model or the addition of new data sources and analyses.

• Update reviews include additional years of source data only (such as catch-per-unit-effort or other data from fishery-dependent or independent surveys) into the time series from a previously reviewed assessment. There are no additional changes to the model or the treatment of the data, including survey (catch-per-unit-effort or other) time series.
• Research track reviews encompass the review of the different modules of the benchmark assessment under development. These include, but are not limited to: the different data components and how changes in the assumptions and handling of these data components change assessment outcomes, and the modeling approach used in the assessment.

Research track assessments will not result in near-term scientific information for management consideration. Other products used for fisheries management, such as biological opinions, research programs, Endangered Species Act status reviews, and other key scientific documents, are reviewed through the Center for Independent Experts.

Learn more about Independent Peer Reviews from 2005 to 2013.

2023 Deep-7 Bottomfish in the Main Hawaiian Islands

Update Stock Assessment

• Meeting Information and Agenda
• Federal Register Notice
• Panel Summary Report
• Stock Assessment

2023 Bottomfish Management Unit Species in American Samoa

Benchmark Stock Assessment

• Meeting Information and Agenda
• Federal Register Notice
• Panel Summary Report
• Stock Assessment

2021 Deep-7 Bottomfish in the Main Hawaiian Islands

Update Stock Assessment

• Meeting Information and Agenda
• Federal Register Notice
• Panel Summary Report
• Stock Assessment

2020 Uku in the Main Hawaiian Islands

Benchmark Stock Assessment

• Meeting Information and Agenda
• Federal Register Notice
• Panel Summary Report
• Stock Assessment

2019 Territorial Bottomfish Stock Assessment

Benchmark Stock Assessment

• Meeting Information and Agenda
• Federal Register Notice
• Panel Summary Report
• Stock Assessment

2019 Guam Reef Fish

Benchmark Stock Assessment

• Meeting Information and Agenda 
• Federal Register Notice
• Panel Summary Report
• Stock Assessment

2018 Kona Crab in the Main Hawaiian Islands

Benchmark Stock Assessment

• Meeting Information and Agenda
• Federal Register Notice
• Panel Summary Report
• Stock Assessment

2017 Deep-7 Bottomfish in the Main Hawaiian Islands

Benchmark Stock Assessment

• Meeting Information and Agenda 
• Federal Register Notice
• Panel Summary Report
• Stock Assessment

2016 Coral Reef Fishes in the Main Hawaiian Islands

Benchmark Stock Assessment

• Meeting Information and Agenda 
• Federal Register Notice
• Panel Summary Report
• Chair’s Report (by Erik C. Franklin)
• Stock Assessment

2015 Kona Crab Assessment

Center for Independent Experts Desktop Review

• Reviewer Report (by Norman G. Hall)
• Stock Assessment

2015 Length and Biomass Augmented Catch-MSY Assessment Methods

Center for Independent Experts Review

• Meeting Information and Agenda 
• Federal Register Notice
• Reviewer Report (by Robin Cook)
• Reviewer Report (by José A. A. De Oliveira)
• Reviewer Report (by John D. Neilson)

2015 Length-based Data Poor Assessment Methods

Center for Independent Experts Review

• Meeting Information and Agenda 
• Federal Register Notice
• Reviewer Report (by Cathy Dichmont)
• Reviewer Report (by Graham Pilling)
• Reviewer Report (by Kevin Stokes)

2015 Quantifying Bycatch in the Hawaii Deep-set Longline Fishery

Center for Independent Experts Review

• Meeting Information and Agenda 
• Federal Register Notice
• Reviewer Report by Mary C. Christman
• Reviewer Report by Yan Jiao
• Reviewer Report by Shijie Zhou

2015 Territorial Bottomfish Stock Assessment

Update Stock Assessment

• Meeting Information and Agenda 
• Federal Register Notice
• Panel Summary Report
• Stock Assessment Update

For more information

Earlier reviews from 2005–2013 are available online here: Independent Peer Reviews of Science in the Pacific Islands. 

For additional information or supplemental materials, please contact John Syslo.