Abstract

Under the Magnuson Stevens Act National Standard 2, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is to incorporate the best scientific information available (BSIA) in formulating fishery management plans and other fishery management products implemented through a regional council process. Within the three councils in the southern United States – the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils – the Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) process is charged with developing BSIA in the form of fishery assessments. Since its formation in 2002, SEDAR has utilized a three-step workshop process to complete such assessments. The Center for Independent Experts (CIE), a NMFS-wide independent peer review program, has supported the SEDAR process by providing independ-ent experts to evaluate the BSIA presented at the SEDAR workshops and the SEDAR process through independent peer review reports. Since 2002, the CIE has provided peer review in 24 SEDAR workshop cycles, ranging from species such as queen conch, spiny lobster, and yellowtail snapper in the US Caribbean, king mackerel, red grouper, and tilefish in the Gulf of Mexico, and menhaden, red porgy, and red snapper in the South Atlantic, among many others. Most recently, the SEDAR process adopted CIE independent peer reviews in each of its three workshop series, allowing consideration of independent critiques at the data, assessment, and review steps of the process. This process is exemplified in SEDAR 24, which considered South Atlantic red snapper in 2010 and in which the CIE provided input in all steps of the process.

PDF Preview