38. Several of those present noted the need for knowledge of what the total removals of the different species were from their respective fisheries for without such information, no management would be possible.
39. A vessel list was prepared to provide a basis for ascertaining for which vessel operations data were, or would be, available and for which vessels it was unknown if catch operations data was being collected. It was agreed that the FAO would attempt to contact the operators of the vessels for which it was uncertain if appropriate data were being collected in an effort to either obtain the data, make sure it was at least archived, or ensure that it would be available to future technical working groups for analysis.
40. It was noted that there had been many scientific research cruises in the area of interest over the past decades, including work by the United States (through the Global Oceanographic Observations System programme); by the JAMARC (Japanese) trawl surveys, which had sampled fish resources using two vessels, mainly in depths of ˜ 500m but also to 1000m during the period 1980/1981 in the region from the equator to 50ºS; by IFREMER and much earlier, by USSR vessels based in the Ukraine.
41. It was agreed that the data collected by these endeavours was of great value and that the details of the work that had been undertaken should be determined - where it had been undertaken, the nature of the research work and the results as they relate to the objectives of the Ad Hoc Technical Meeting. It was also agreed that the Sub-regional FAO fisheries officer would prepare a list of past relevant research cruises in the area for future reference
42. Mr Graham Patchell informed that the New Zealand industry has a sampling manual to guide observers in the procedures for recording biological measurements and other data related to fishing operations. He kindly offered to make a copy of these procedures available to the FAO. In the case of Namibia it was noted that all their vessels carry Marine (fisheries) Observers and that they too are provided with a manual describing sampling procedures.
43. It was noted that while some measurements were easily recorded accurately, e.g. length and size, determining the condition of the gonads required considerable skill, and for this reason the New Zealand practice was to only record gonad condition for females. The usefulness of collecting gonads and the corresponding fish weights was also noted.
44. It was noted that two methods were used for measuring fish lengths. In the case of orange roughy, countries recorded standard length, except for France where the fork length was recorded. In the case of Beryx spp., fork length was used to measure fish length. In any event, it was agreed that conversion relationships between the two length measures should be established.
45. The New Zealand practice was to collect biological measurements from one tow per day. The lengths of 200 fish of the target species were recorded; this represented about 6 - 8 boxes of fish and took about 30 minutes to measure.
46. It was agreed that it was important that countries should maintain their sampling procedures and countries that did not have such procedures be encouraged to adopt such programmes. The existence of the large South African data collection relating to deep-sea resources in the study region was noted and it was agreed that this information, if available in the future, would be of great use. Further, it was reported that South Africa had an ongoing marine observer programme on relevant boats and that this programme would be collecting considerable amounts of relevant data. It was asked that the FAO check with South Africa about the availability of these data.
47. In the case of New Zealand it was reported that the Ministry of Fisheries has about 80% of the data that has been collected by the New Zealand industry in the study area and that the remaining data will probably be obtained.
48. It was agreed that scientific work related to stock assessment in the short to medium-term should concentrate on orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) and alfonsinos (Beryx splendens).
49. It was agreed that arrangements should be made to report such biological measurement data at a future Ad Hoc technical meeting and that an agenda for these activities should be established.
