The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s fishery ecosystem plan for American Samoa includes 11 bottomfish management unit species (BMUS) that have traditionally been assessed and managed as a group (i.e., a species complex). The previous 2019 assessment concluded this complex was both undergoing overfishing and was overfished. The current benchmark assessment for the American Samoa BMUS differs significantly from all previous efforts in terms of data inputs and model structure. A major improvement for this new benchmark was the move to single-species, age-structured models in the Stock Synthesis modeling framework for all BMUS. In the terminal year of the model, 2021, all nine BMUS stock statuses were not overfished and overfishing was not occurring (see Figure S1 below). Overfishing is defined by fishing mortality (F) in 2021 being higher than FMSY and overfished status is defined by spawning stock biomass (SSB) in 2021 being lower than SSB at the Minimum Stock Size Threshold.
ID: 469 Info. Type: ISI
Start date of Peer Review: 2/17/2023
Estimated Initial Dissemination Date: 6/30/2023
Actual Dissemination Date of peer review report and final work product: 6/28/2023
Contact Person: CDR Jonathan R. Heesch Get contact information
Review Type: Panel Review
Expected Number of Peer Reviewers: 3
Peer Reviewers will be selected by: WPSAR and CIE
Will the public, including scientific or professional societies, be asked to nominate potential peer reviewers? No
Will there be opportunities for the public to comment on the work product to be peer reviewed? Yes. Oral and written comments were accepted during designated comment periods during the review workshop
Will the agency provide significant and relevant public comments to the peer reviewers before they conduct their review? Yes
Primary disciplines or expertise needed in the review: Fisheries stock assessment, fisheries biology, and population dynamics
Comments on Peer Review: The review was successful.
Charge statement:
Peer review report and final work product: