PFRP Statistics & Modeling Projects

Improved Effectiveness of WCPFC through Better Informed Fishery Decision Makers

Progress Reports: FY 2012, FY 2011, FY 2010

Project Summary

In our experience of working in CCSBT, IATTC, and the WCPFC, fisheries decision makers often express a desire for better information to help them make defensible decisions. While the information required to evaluate management measures with the WCPFC stock assessments is now publicly available, few Commission members have the capacity to run MULTIFAN-CL, and therefore there is an information gap.
Funding will be used to develop, optimize, and distribute a user-friendly interface that will allow the fisheries decision makers and their staff to evaluate potential management measures using the current MULTIFAN-CL stock assessments, while shielding the user from some of the technical aspects of MULTIFAN-CL. The application will be downloaded from the internet and will incorporate the most recent assessments. It will allow the user to specify a set of management measures (catch or effort limits) and will produce results in graphical and tabular form. Discussions with WCPFC members, and others with expertise in fisheries management and decision making, will help inform both the types of measures that managers might wish to evaluate, and the outputs of interest. Training will be offered to fisheries decision makers.
The project will last two years with a simple prototype developed in the first year, refined in the second year to a fully functioning application including features such as "Help" and "Automatic Updates" (e.g. to ensure that the most recent assessment models are being used). Funding will support 0.5 FTE of a Fisheries IT Specialist and contribute to MULTIFAN-CL development for two years.
At the request of the PFRP Steering Committee project researchers will also work on a model with monthly time steps and 1 degree square spatial resolution. This will allow evaluations of time-area closures, country-specific EEZ actions, and high-seas pocket measures. Presentation of the product will be made at WesPac (Council + SSC), PIRO and PIFSC, and additionally the PFRP PI meeting.

Objectives

The objectives of this project are:

to create a standalone application ('the application'), downloadable from a website, that allows a user to evaluate various management options using forward projections with the most recent WCPFC stock assessment models.
To change MULTIFAN-CL so that it provides outputs that are more relevant to the needs of fisheries decision-makers.

The project will cover two years, with the first being used to develop a prototype for testing, and the second year to develop a fully-functioning version after liaison with fisheries decision-makers.

Methodology

There are four main components to the work to be completed over two years.

Confer with WCPFC fishery decision-makers and with decision-makers and science providers from other fishery management forums, and review literature, to identify the information that managers need from the stock assessments to be able to make informed decisions.
Further develop the MULTIFAN-CL stock assessment software to provide as much of this information as possible.
Develop a stand-alone application that a) allows fishery decision makers and their advisors to quickly evaluate potential management options, including the necessary outputs, and b) provides information in a way that is easy to use and to understand.
Train decision-makers and other stakeholders to use the application, and use their feedback to improve both the application and MULTIFAN-CL, to ensure that the project makes the greatest possible impact.

Project funding will focus on the second and third components in this proposal.

Funding for this project to be available late 2009.

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Principal Investigators
Dr. Simon Hoyle Stock Assessment & Modeling Section Oceanic Fisheries Programme Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) BP D5 98848 Noumea CEDEX New Caledonia Phone (687) 266776 / 262000 xt 455 email: simonh@spc.int	Dr. Shelton Harley Stock Assessment & Modeling Section Oceanic Fisheries Programme Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) BP D5 98848 Noumea CEDEX New Caledonia Phone (687) 260192 email: sheltonh@spc.int
Mr. Fabrice Bouye Oceanic Fisheries Programme Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) BP D5 98848 Nomea CEDEX New Caledonia Phone (687) 273464 email: fabriceb@spc.int

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