Documents related to the annual SPC pre-assessment workshop - PAW This repository was started in 2025 to provide access to documents and presentations related to the annual pre-assesment workshops (PAW) run by SPC (the Pacific Community). Documents from previous PAWs can be requested from SPC, and the meeting summary papers can be found as information papers submitted to each WCPFC Scientific Committe meeting: https://meetings.wcpfc.int/meetings/type/11 The purpose of the annual PAW (usually held in March/April) is to help guide stock assessments and related modelling work and analyses for the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC). The Oceanic Fisheries Programme (OFP) of the Pacific Community (SPC) is the Science Services Provider for the WCPFC has sought input from regional (WCPFC CCMs) fisheries scientists, consultants, representatives from regional fisheries organisations and other interested stakeholders, through the SPC pre-assessment workshop (PAW) process.
What is Pre-PAW? Pre-PAW was first initiated for the 2026 assessments as a preliminary online open discussion and recap session(s) on the previous versions of the assessments being conducted in the coming year. It allows interested WCPFC members and relevant external technical experts to have early discussions with the Science Services Provider (SSP) and provide comments, ideas, and approaches to consider for improving the assessments and/or rectifying issues with previous assessment versions as noted by the Scientific Committee reviews. The Pre-PAW sessions are informal online sessions (about 4 hours per session, 2 or 3 sessions), and expected to cover:
• review the issues/recommendations from the previous assessments, • identify priorities from these issues/recommendations to place additional focus for the new assessments (assist with work planning), • identify any key structural changes that might be important to consider/explore, • consider any methodological advances/changes that might be feasible to explore or implement, including software features (i.e. MFCL enhancements and new features) • plan for CPUE analysis • identify any new biology information that may be useful in the assessments, i.e. age-length and growth data, reproductive biology, movements/population structure etc. • review tag data availabilty and use in the upcoming assessments • identify any potential data provision issues/risks – including timing of complete data availability etc.
Noting: irrespective of discussions and advice provided at Pre_PAW, SPC staff, as the independent SSPs for the WCPFC, will have ultimate control on how the assessments are done, and make the key decisions. Like PAW, Pre-PAW is a technical meeting, that is SPC run, not a formal meeting of the WCPFC.