Fisheries-independent surveys are conducted worldwide to determine the status of marine populations and to characterize the state of marine ecosystems. The primary role of surveys is to provide consistent time series data for use in stock and ecosystem assessments. However, the consistency of time series may be impacted by, for example closed areas for conservation or energy transition (wind farms), the need to expand into new areas that have become available to stocks, addition of new objectives to existing surveys, funding shortfalls, vessel unavailability, and unfavourable meteorological conditions.
To face these challenges and to ensure the value of the time series in the future, surveys may have to change. The use of new survey technologies, designing surveys that are less sensitive to changing circumstances, moving away from destructive surveys methods, or setting up new survey programs are the ways to move forward. It is always crucial to evaluate the value of the new data collection to the existing objectives and evaluate if objectives are still relevant for marine management purposes. As many have dealt with changes in surveys, whether foreseen or unexpected, the topic in itself is not new, and many experiences can be shared. Learning from the past is highly valuable, and often failures more clearly reveal the path to progress than successes.
Changes in ecosystems and in technology are generating a need for survey programs to adapt to the present world through progress in design, estimation and technology.
We are seeking a wide range of contributions to this topic, such as:
- sharing experiences on (un)successful developments in fisheries-independent surveys
- use of new techniques in relation to time series continuity
- improvements in design that allow for flexibility in effort allocation
- evaluation of new survey designs
- efficient survey calibration methods
We invite everyone to put their story in a broader context by summarizing general lessons learned, sharing proven best practices, or preparing for the implementation of technologies and/or analytical techniques.
