SCIENTIFIC AND STATISTICAL COMMITTEE REPORT ON THE NORTH PACIFIC

answer questions. The SSC discussion focused on elements that should be included in the precautionary management framework for North Pacific Albacore Tuna being developed by the Northern Committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. Overall, the SSC supports the use of this document as a starting point for management discussions. The current interim reference point, FSSB-ATHL, is effort-based and provides a status quo reference point that assumes that the current mix of gear types remains constant. The definition of effort is key to any reference point based on fishing effort, and some effort metrics may be more informative than others (e.g., number of vessels or vessel-days vs. number of hooks in the water). Currently, fishing effort for this species is not measured to the degree needed to support reference points based on fishing effort. The SSC agrees with the HMSMT that management reference points should consider the availability and quality of catch data and biological information for the stock. Reference points can be based on biomass or fishing mortality, or proxies for FMSY. The SSC has previously recommended that spawning potential ratio (SPR) reference points be considered as potential fishing mortality proxies for North Pacific albacore. Biomass-based referenc