Training courses

Close-Kin Mark-Recapture for Fisheries and Bycatch

18 August - 22 August 2025
ICES Headquarters, Copenhagen, Denmark
In-person participation

This five-day course explores close-kin mark-recapture (CKMR) for target and bycatch species. CKMR, made possible by advances in genetics within the last decade, is a modern technique for directly estimating absolute abundance and mortality rates. It needs only tissue samples and measurements from catches (though other data can be added too) and is thus able to bypass the toughest data challenges in fisheries.

This course presents CKMR in a stock-assessment setting, as well as for stand-alone use. Instruction is mainly aimed at modellers and statisticians who could, in principle, write their own code for basic age-structured stock-assessment. However, the main focus is on concepts, and there is no need to write or even run code.

The main aspects will be:

Scope and principles of CKMR
CKMR for various scenarios, some easy, some tricky, some impossible: concepts through to code
Selected case studies (from tuna, sharks, seals, halibut ...)
Key aspects of genetics and kin-finding (but note this is not a genetics course)
Design of CKMR projects: qualitative and quantitative aspects

This update of the 2022 course includes full RTMB code for the scenarios, more on Design, and an updated Genetics section.

Registration is now open. Deadline for registration 11 June.

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Course instructor:

Mark Bravington, Tazmania, Australia

Fees:

950 Euros for ICES member country affiliated participants

1550 Euros for non-member country affiliated participants

The training course fee is payable upon submission of your application. Please have your credit card details ready when completing your application. If the course is cancelled or postponed, the fee will be reimbursed to you.

Disclaimer:
Please note that your registration for ICES Training Course is not final until confirmed. If the course does not meet the minimum number of participants, it may be cancelled or rescheduled. If the course is cancelled you will receive a full refund of the course fee. We recommend waiting to book any travel arrangements until you receive confirmation from us that the course will proceed as scheduled. You will be notified about the status of your application and course confirmation after the registration deadline has passed.