The fifth session of the SIOFA Meeting of the Parties (MoP5) in 2018 requested the SIOFA Scientific Committee (SC) to develop a framework and work plan for the establishment of harvest strategies for key SIOFA stocks (para. 53, MoP5 report). Following this, the SIOFA SC proposed six key elements (requirements) for consideration as part of SIOFA harvest strategies and/or a SIOFA harvest strategy framework, including:
(i) Definition of management/operational objectives;
(ii) Limit and target reference points;
(iii) Consideration of risk of breaching reference points and how this will be dealt with, for example through the use of precautionary reference points and/or discount factors/buffers to deal with assessment uncertainty;
(iv) Monitoring and feedback mechanisms to ensure objectives are being/will be met, and what actions should apply when indicators demonstrate concerns that objectives may not be (or are not being) met;
(v) Decision rules (e.g. harvest control rules) for achieving target reference points and avoiding moving below limit reference points; and
(vi) Processes for evaluating harvest strategies (including Management Strategy Evaluation).
In the medium term, SIOFA requires a harvest strategy framework that addresses the elements above. Such a framework would allow consistency in the application of harvest strategy elements across SIOFA fisheries, thus improving efficiency and transparency around relevant decision making processes. However, as a first step the SIOFA Scientific Committee is looking to
recommend relevant targets and limit reference points. Due to the relatively low value and volume of SIOFA fisheries, relatively low investment in science and research, and because key target stocks are not currently overfished and overfishing is not thought to be occurring, there is not an urgent need for complex harvest strategies and the frameworks that guide their implementation.
However, in order to inform and allow development of harvest strategies, SIOFA requires the development of target and limit reference points for its exploited stocks. This project aims to provide the scientific advice to allow the SIOFA Scientific Committee to recommend to the Meeting of Parties appropriate target and limit reference points for its stocks.