WKBALT took place from 4 – 8 February 2013 at ICES Headquarters in Copenhagen, and the
benchmark workshop dealt with the following stocks: Sprat in Subdivisions 22–32 (Baltic
Sea), Cod in Subdivisions 22–24, Cod in Subdivisions 25–32, and Herring in
Subdivisions 25–29 and 32 (excluding Gulf of Riga herring). ICES will use the results to provide advice for 2014.
The meeting was chaired by Anna Rindorf, and participants included
experts and stakeholders from outside the ICES community to broaden the
perspective and data pool in order to improve assessment quality.
The goal of a benchmark is consensus agreement on an assessment
methodology that is to be used in future update assessments. This assessment
methodology can be either analytical or non-analytical, depending on, for
instance, trends in an assessment or in a selected set of (survey) indicators,
with or without forecasts. The result will be the ‘best available’ method that
ICES advice will be based on which will be documented in a “stock annex”.
Typically, a stock will be benchmarked every 3–5 years to keep pace with
changing situations.
A benchmark meeting is open to experts and stakeholders, and it is
reviewed by external experts throughout the process. A benchmark process takes
about five to seven months of preparation and includes a data compilation
workshop and a final benchmark meeting.
If you are interested in finding out about WKBALT 2013, please contact Advice
