It’s that time of year again: the line-up of training courses for next year has been finalized and interested potential participants can now sign up online. 2015’s offerings range from the visualization of Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data and stock assessment methodology through to advice for stakeholders, NGOs and policy-makers and lifting the lid on social science methods for natural scientists.
‘Analysing and visualization of VMS and EU logbook data using the VMStools R package’, the first of the year running in the first week of June, will provide instruction in the use of the VMStools software package for simultaneous analyses of VMS and logbook data. The focus will be on mapping the spatial distribution of fisheries and the behaviour of fishers at sea.
Following in the same month, ‘Stock assessment intro’ will give students the low-down on basic theoretical and practical elements of population dynamics and stock assessments whilst ‘Fisheries management to meet biodiversity conservation needs’ aims to boost science advisors’ understanding of the interface between fisheries and biodiversity issues.
In October, stakeholders, NGOs, and policy-makers will be able to gain insight into the workings of ICES advisory process, and natural scientists can train in the art of effective communication and participation in joint research projects in ‘Social science methods for natural scientists’.
Finally, in November, ‘Model development in fish stock assessment: ADMB, TMB, and SAM’ will present an advanced session on fisheries stock assessment modelling using the AD Model Builder (ADMB), Template Model Builder (TMB), and State Space Assessment Model (SAM).
