Stock Synthesis Course, January 22 to 26 2018, Chile

A course on the stock assessment modeling platform Stock Synthesis (SS) was conducted during January 22 and 26, 2018 at the Universidad de Concepcion in Chile. This course was lead by CAPAM Research Scientist Dr. Juan Valero and Dr. Melissa Haltuch (NOAA) and was directed to intermediate/advanced SS users from Spanish Speakers/Latin Countries. The course was taught in Spanish and English. Funding was provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service International Science Strategy (NMFS ISS) and the Universidad de Concepcion, Chile.

The course was attended by 24 fishery scientists from IFOP (Instituto de Fomento Pesquero) and Subpesca (Subsecretaría de Pesca y Acuicultura) as well as students from the Universidad de Concepcion. The course covered the transition from previous SS versions to the current version (SS version 3.3) and was planned around a series of lectures and model building and diagnostic sessions, including: 1) advanced recruitment estimation options in SS and 2) estimation of the initial fishing mortality in SS for fisheries with incomplete catch time series, 3) data weighting/model tuning, 4) specification and use of priors, 5) SS Starter file tools, and 6) forecast file and projection options/implementation and understanding forecast output file, 7) communicating stock assessment uncertainty, and 8) forecast, reference points and fishery harvest control rules.

For further information please contact Dr. Juan Valero (juan_luis_valero@hotmail.com).