A workshop on the use of CUFES in studies of the spawning habitat and biomass of small pelagic fish was held February 9-11, 2000 in San Sebastian, Spain. The workshop was an activity of Working Group Eight of SPACC (Small Pelagics and Climate Change), a regional component of the International GLOBEC Program. The workshop was hosted by the Technological Institute for Fisheries and Food(AZTI). Sponsors included International GLOBEC, US GLOBEC, the Inter-American Institute for Global Change, and AZTI.

A total of 32 people participated from research centers in the United States, México, Peru, Chile, Argentina, United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, South Africa and Japan.

Objectives

To assess the present status of CUFES in comparative studies of spawning habitats and egg production of small pelagic fishes and to recommend future actions.

Schedule and tasks

Day 1 (Wednesday, February 9)

Presentations with discussion on the present status of CUFES and related subjects, including planned use. This included conceptual and technical issues as well as results.

Day 2 (Thursday, February 10)

Discussion of the following topics:

(a) Use of CUFES in habitat spawning assessment and its comparison within and between regions (the core SPACC problem described by SPACC Working Group 8 in the SPACC Implementation Plan, GLOBEC Report No. 11).

(b) Use of CUFES in the Daily Egg Production Method (DEPM) including experimental designs and use of geostatistics.

(c) Technical issues, including the relationship of the vertical distribution of pelagic fish eggs to CUFES data; relating CUFES to areal estimates of egg abundance by observation and models; automation of CUFES; and integrating CUFES with other underway monitoring systems, including acoustic and optical systems.

Day 3 (Friday, February 11)

Formulation of recommendations and action items.

Product

GLOBEC Report 14 (Checkley et al. 2000) resulted from this workshop. This report contains recommendations, extended abstracts, discussion summaries, and action items. Color maps of egg distributions, for small, pelagic fish off USA, Peru, Chile, Spain, and South Africa, are also included. Copies of this report are available from Dr. Manuel Barange of the International GLOBEC Project Office.

Meeting Organizing Committee

David M. Checkley, Jr.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA

John R. Hunter
Southwest Fisheries Science Center, USA

Lorenzo Motos
AZTI, SPAIN

Carl D. van der Lingen
Marine and Coastal Management, SOUTH AFRICA

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