Annual International Stock Assessment Review Workshop 

The annual International Stock Assessment Workshop will be taking place at University of Cape Town (UCT) Mathematics Building, (Room M212) from Monday, 30 November to Friday, 4 December 2026.

Four international scientists have confirmed acceptance to attend as members of the Review Panel: Daniel Howell (Norway), Andre Punt(USA), and Nathan Taylor (Spain); Mike Wilberg (USA) will attend afternoon sessions virtually.

Topics

The primary topics to be covered for various South African marine resources are as follows:

• Sardine – Review of progress on developing a new assessment and then management procedure for setting catch limits in the pelagic fishery for sardine.
• Consideration of appropriate harvest levels for lower trophic level species (such as sardine and anchovy) that take account of the needs of dependent predators (such as seabirds) and the wider ecosystem.
• Hake – Review of the update of the management procedure.
• Toothfish – Review of progress on the development of a revised management procedure.

Schedule

Discussion will commence at 09:30 am on Monday, 30 November, and thereafter take place from 09:00 to 17:30 each day, with two 30-minute breaks for tea at 10:30 and at 15:30, and a 90-minute lunch break at 12:30. Thursday afternoon will be reserved for the Panel to prepare their report. 

A detailed schedule indicating which topics will be discussed at what times will be circulated in due course. For the most part, discussions will be at a technical level, however on the final day (Friday, 4 December at 14:30 in room M304 of the UCT Mathematics building), the International Review Panel will provide a summary of their recommendations at a level appropriate for a lay audience, and will be available to respond to questions from the audience. 

Documentation and Attendance

Likely commencing Friday 20 November (possibly before), documents for background information and for discussion at the workshop will be posted on the following website for prior download: https://science.uct.ac.za/maram/2026-workshop

Attendees are asked to bring their own copies of documents (as found on the website) to the meeting as they will not be made available in other forms. However, for technical reasons, there may be some documents which cannot be made available in this way; if so, these will be emailed to those who advise attendance as requested below.

Because of the need to maintain a workshop type interaction, Chairs will limit discussion during each session primarily to panel members and selected key contributors who will sit at a central table. However, others are welcome to attend, with members of relevant DFFE scientific working groups especially encouraged to do so. Their interventions will be entertained in the discussions to the extent that time permits.

Inter alia for catering purposes, we need to know likely attendance. Could those wishing to attend part or all of the event please send an email to Anthea Stain anthea.stain@uct.ac.za copied doug.butterworth@uct.ac.za, indicating the topics for which you wish to attend (this is not necessary for those who wish to attend the final Friday lay summary session only).