Abstract

The Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have sponsored a series of workshops over the years to help improve data-limited assessments in the Gulf and Caribbean region. This year’s GCFI-NOAA workshop to improve the monitoring and abundance estimation of fish spawning aggrega-tions (FSAs) in the Gulf and Caribbean region was held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic during November 2-3, 2019. The workshop brought together expertise and diverse perspectives of 51 participants from 12 countries (Figure 1) to address the priorities and gaps to improve the scientific information of FSAs for fisheries management. A pre-workshop survey guided the framework of the workshop, and survey responses highlighted the interest and need training in the use of new technologies and methods to enhance the monitoring of FSAs (Figure 2). The workshop focused on two primary goals: 1) enhance the scientific capacity and networks within the GCFI community toward establishment of best practices in research and monitoring approaches for FSAs, and 2) evaluate the data requirements for fishery stock management and spatial management strategies that seek conservation and sustainable uses of fisheries in the region.

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