Significant advances have been made within the prioritized research on the Albacore reproductive biology under the ALBYP, with the study nearly completed to the North Atlantic stock and with a considerable new set of samples collected for the Southern stock (270 and 300, collected by Brazil and Chinese Taipei, respectively) which allowed preliminary results to be presented for both stocks. Preliminary results suggest different maturity schedules for both stocks. Updates of the results obtained on electronic tagging in the North Atlantic have been presented, with tracks covering more than a year in the life of juveniles showing that  that these albacore specimens visited shallow waters of the Bay of Biscay in subsequent summers, while inhabiting deeper waters in the central and western Atlantic during the winter, as well as travelling south to the Canary Islands before returning to the Bay of Biscay. New tagging campaigns are being planned for both the North and Southern Atlantic to continue deploying the remaining purchased tags (internal archival tags and pop-up tags). Further development of the northern Atlantic Albacore MSE work has been developed, including the migration of the Operating Models and the other components of the MSE framework to FLBEIA. An observation error model has also been developed with alternatives for autocorrelation and application of residuals.

Additional information can be found here.

The SMTYP continued the collection of biological samples and their analysis, aimed at growth, maturity and stock structure studies on small tunas species. A total of 148 new individuals of different species were sampled (60 Bullet tuna, Auxis rochei, BLT; 62 Frigate tuna, A. thazard, FRI; 26 Little tunnies; Euthynnus alletteratus, LTA; and 53 Wahoo, Acanthocybium solandri, WAH). Overall, within the course of the SMTYP, a total of 3,738 fish samples were collected across all areas, including muscle, spines, otoliths, and gonads. Between 20-24 October 2024, a workshop on small tuna biology was held in Málaga (Spain), which involved 10 participants from eight ICCAT CPs. It allowed to: i) identify the main gaps in terms of sampling; ii) review and update of sampling protocols; iii) agree on the macroscopic criteria for assigning reproductive stages by species, aiming consistency between laboratories; iv) adopt a new microscopic maturity scale; and v) provide training on the classification of gonadal stages and sexual maturity from histological sections using microscopic gonad maturity.

Additional information can be found here.

Within the SRDCP the results of an requesting information from different researchers involved in the ICCAT shark ageing was presented. These results showed that there are currently over 7150 vertebra available from different pelagic shark species, aiming at additional studies on age and growth of several of these species. In addition, 224 of these samples (65 for longfin mako shark, Isurus paucus, LMA; 88 for oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhinus longimanus, OCS; and 71 for the silky shark, C. falciformis, FAL) were processed and digitally photographed, and are currently being read to improve the current knowledge of age and growth of these species. The collection of new samples is now much more complicated due to CITES listings, albeit all efforts being made by ICCAT, namely raising this issue at CITES meetings. Following the success of the 2024 shark electronic tagging campaign, two new contracts are being issued, aiming at new electronic tagging campaigns for the deployment of at least 15 PSATs tags in the Equatorial and Tropical Atlantic, as well as 3 PSATs off the West African coast. The final results of the age and growth study of southern Atlantic shortfin mako will be presented during the upcoming shortfin Mako Data Preparatory Meeting (hybrid, Malaga, 10-14 March 2025), to be considered for the 2025 Shortfin Mako Shark Stock Assessment (hybrid, Madrid, Spain, 9-13 June 2025).

Additional information can be found here.

Within the SWOYP the northern swordfish MSE work continued, and a management procedure was selected by the Commission in 2024. According to the MSE roadmap for this stock, the technical team is working on an exceptional circumstances protocol and robustness tests related to Climate Change and minimum size limits. In 2024, SWOYP efforts largely focused on sample processing, with CPC scientists who regularly contribute with samples mostly focused on working through a backlog of sample processing and analysis of materials collected as part of SWOYP in previous years. A total of 4,712 samples have been collected throughout many of the major fishing areas in the North and South Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. A bomb 14C chronology of the North Atlantic was used to test the validity of age estimates for swordfish. The findings of this study provide a validated basis for continued use of annual growth zone counting in thin-sectioned otoliths with room for improvement for swordfish ageing. Phase #7 of SWOYP continues with a focus on: processing and imaging of gonads; age readings from spines and otoliths, grow modelling, and age validation through bomb radiocarbon analysis; population analysis of tissues samples coming from new areas (Brazil, North African coast, North Central Atlantic Ocean, South Africa and Strait of Gibraltar) for stock differentiation analysis; and, electronic tagging campaigns in priority areas (stock mixing areas in the Northeast Atlantic, and in the Gulf of Guinea) scheduled for the first semester of 2025.

Additional information can be found here.

The highest priority work area of the TTRaD was to advance the development of the multi-stock MSE and the western skipjack MSE, including training workshops. For the Western Skipjack MSE, updates include development of CMPs, incorporation of abundance indices and robustness tests to account for the effects of Climate Change. For the multi-stock MSE, technical work has been undertaken to explore uncertainties, develop conditioned operating models and observation error models, incorporation of Climate Change impacts, and multi-stock management procedures (harvest control rule development). To aid in building understanding of the developed MSEs, a workshop was held in October 2024 focused on building understanding of tropical tuna-specific MSEs. The estimation of growth, maximum age and natural mortality for the three species of tropical tunas continued, including the collection (particularly in the Gulf of Guinea, Central and South Atlantic) and ageing of specimens of the three tropical tunas and by taking advantage of data collected during the Atlantic Ocean Tropical Tuna Tagging Programme (AOTTP). Finally, recovery of AOTTP tagged fish, tag seeding and maintenance of the tagging database were the other activities carried out since the last Newsletter.

Within EPBR the consortium led by the Institut sénégalais de recherches agricoles (ISRA), Centre de Recherches Océanographiques de Dakar/Thiaroye (CRODT, Senegal) continued the growth studies. Since the last Newsletter only a few additional samples were collected for the three billfish species, therefore ICCAT CPC engagement in sampling for this program is urgently needed to fill gaps that have been identified in sampling for several size ranges. A new dedicated electronic campaign is planned for 2025 and a new contract has now been issued for the deployment of at least 4 PSATs in the northeastern Atlantic. In addition, within the scope of other ICCAT e-tagging programmes, opportunistic electronic tagging can be done in other areas of the Eastern Atlantic during 2025.

The 2024 SCRS Plenary Meeting Report has been published. Please access the report here.

Volume 81 of the ICCAT Collective Volume of Scientific Papers, containing 11 issues, and including 139 scientific papers and reports presented to the SCRS during 2024, has been published here.

Other News

Following the call for nominations for the position of SCRS Chair, Sierra Leone nominated Dr. Craig Brown (USA) for a second mandate as SCRS Chair. Several Contracting Parties also showed their support to this nomination, and thanked Dr. Brown for his hard work during his first mandate. Following the request of the Commission, Dr. Brown has recently nominated Dr. Luis Gustavo Cardoso (Brazil) as the new Vice-Chair of the SCRS.

The Secretariat has recently developed and made available a new webpage: “Geographic Information Systems” under the main Statistics tab of the ICCAT website. The new GIS page contains information on the geographic definition of ICCAT area and subarea boundaries, stock areas and sampling areas. In addition, 1-degree and 5-degree grids have been included. The geospatial information can be downloaded from the webpage in an open format, so that any user can make their own analyses and maps using open software. This facilitates access through any GIS tool, such as the free software QGIS. For online viewing, a cartographic viewer that includes all layers is also available.

Derek Cambell, Compliance Committee Chair, has dedicated a few words to her :

What will we do without Jenny? Her encyclopaedic knowledge of ICCAT requirements and procedures, ruthless efficiency, tireless work ethic, and most importantly dry/salty wit and kindness even in the most challenging of times makes Jenny the type of colleague everybody wants to have and that I was fortunate enough to sit next to for 9 years of Compliance Committee meetings. At the COC, Jenny always had an answer and was always there to provide a helpful steer to a deer-in-headlights COC Chair. The organization, and its compliance regime, are better because of Jenny. And I am grateful that she has left the COC with an incredibly skilled Secretariat team. But Jenny, we miss you already!

The Secretariat sincerely thanks and congratulate Ms. Cheatle on her remarkable work and dedication, which will be greatly missed.

Through this Newsletter, her colleagues from the ICCAT Secretariat wish her every success in this new stage of her life.

Staff