Course on Harvest Strategy Evaluation, Argentina

 

A course on Fishery Management Strategies was conducted at the Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Pesquero (INIDEP), Argentina’s federal fisheries research agency, in Mar del Plata, Argentina during December 12 – 16, 2016. This course was prepared by Dr. Melissa Haltuch and Dr. Juan Valero and follows two previous courses taught during 2014 (Funded in part by NOAA’s NMFS ISS), and March 2016 (Funded by Argentina and Uruguay).

The course was attended by 26 staff, including technical and management staff from INIDEP, the Dirección Nacional de Recursos Acuáticos de Uruguay (DINARA), the Comisión Técnica Mixta del Frente Marítimo (CTMFM, a joint Argentina-Uruguay fisheries Commission), as well as a representative from Argentina’s Fisheries Secretariat and a representative of Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina (an NGO associated with World Wide Fund). The course was funded by INIDEP and CTMFM with NOAA contributing in kind time for Dr. Haltuch.

The objective of the course was to provide training in management strategies for fishery resources, including generic theoretical aspects and relevant case of studies from around the world. During the course, several relevant and productive discussions took place among participants, focusing on theoretical topics, applicability and potential logistical issues related to potential implementation at the national and regional scale. Topics included the following modules:

  1. Basic principles, management objectives, risk analysis, performance variables and criteria
  2. Harvest strategies and tactics. Harvest control rules, reference points
  3. Alternative strategies and their evaluation
  4. Strategies for multiple species, ecosystem and in a changing environment
  5. Introduction to Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE)

This course was the third one in a series that has focused on training and capacity building on population dynamics quantitative tools and fishery management skills for fisheries Staff of Argentina and Uruguay conducted by Drs. Haltuch and Valero starting in 2014 with support from NOAA (USA), INIDEP (Argentina) and CTMFM (Argentina-Uruguay). The first two courses focused on training on the fisheries stock assessment platform Stock Synthesis (SS), one of the most advanced and complex quantitative tools for fishery analyses worldwide. Those trainings and further remote collaborations between course instructors and fisheries staff resulted in the continuing use SS for assessments and for the provision of scientific information for management advice for 4 stocks in the scope of CTMFM. The tools and concepts provided during this third course were successfully put in use the week following the course end during the “1st Workshop towards the sustainability of the coastal stocks complex” on December 21 2016, a meeting towards improving dialogue and collaborative work between scientists, fishing industry and managers (Figure 2). Dr. Valero was invited to the meeting where he helped facilitate the discussions. The course and workshop were covered extensively by the local media, here, here, here, here and here.