Report of the Working Group on Acoustic and Egg Surveys for Sardine and Anchovy in ICES Areas 7, 8, and 9. Capo, Granitola, Sicily, Italy 14-18 November 2016

The Working Group on Acoustic and Egg Surveys for Sardine and Anchovy in ICES Areas 7, 8, and 9 (previously only for ICES Areas 8 and 9) WGACEGG, met in Capo Granitola, Sicily, Italy, on 14–18 November 2016. The meeting joined WGACEGG and MEDIAS participants with 25 attendees (10 from MEDIAS) from seven countries and representing eight institutes. The Working Group on Acoustic and Egg Surveys for Sardine and Anchovy in ICES Areas 7, 8, and 9 (previously only for ICES Areas 8 and 9) WGACEGG, met in Capo Granitola, Sicily, Italy, on 14–18 November 2016. The meeting joined WGACEGG and MEDIAS participants with 25 attendees (10 from MEDIAS) from seven countries and representing eight institutes. Results obtained during the surveys undertaken during the present year were analysed together with one carried out in 2015 (1 anchovy DEPM and 3 spring and 3 autumn acoustic-trawl). There is a decreasing trend in sardine abundance off Atlantic waters of the Iberian Peninsula together with a shrinking process of its distribution area. In northern areas (8ab and 7), sardine shows a more stable situation, due to the strength of the last incoming year classes. On the other hand, anchovy distribution seemed to have been spreading along the surveyed area, occurring in all areas (i.e. north-western Iberian Peninsula and western of the Cornish Peninsula). (see section 5.1 of the report for further details) A new sardine egg mortality time series from the Iberotlantic DEPM has been presented. The WGACEGG agreed this new estimates has greatly improved the estimation of the sardine spawning stock biomass whose trajectory match better with the acoustic-derived estimation (Annex 4). Besides, in this section, several issues related with fishery-independent data for sardine (e.g. CV from PELAGO and PELACUS surveys or the use of the sardine egg production derived from the mackerel triennial surveys as an indicator of the SSB) has been addressed. The results will be used for evaluating the current data for assessment purposes at the 2017 sardine benchmark. Acoustic and egg parallel sessions were also done. Improvement for in situ TS estimations together with progress report on new estimates for sardine and anchovy TS/length relationships were discussed. In addition, a new version of EchoR has been tested using data from the Mediterranean acoustic surveys. On egg surveys, improvements on automatic egg counting and staging from CUFES has been presented and methods to derive and egg production from this device have been also discussed. The Group endorsed the results from the Bay of Biscay anchovy recruitment autumn survey (JUVENA) which were then submitted to the Working Group on Southern Horse Mackerel, Anchovy and Sardine (WGHANSA) for assessment modelling. The plans for the coordinated 2017 surveys were completed and are present in Annex 7. The WGACEGG reviewed the ToRs for the next three years and designated the two new chairs for that period