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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In the Black Sea anchovy stock assessment conducted during the first Subregional group on stock assessment in the Black Sea (SGSABS), held in November 2014, internal inconsistency was found to be high, suggesting that this could be due to methodological differences in the ages estimated by different specialists. Thereupon, an otoliths exchange exercise was arranged with the participation of experts who determined the ages of the anchovy data used in the stock assessment, and the results, which displayed very low percentage agreement were presented in the second meeting of the SGSABS. The group agreed that the inconsistency observed in the assessment results might be caused by age reading, and requested the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) to hold a reading workshop.

The workshop , organized between 28 January and 1 February 2019 in Trabzon, Turkey, was held as an activity of BlackSea4Fish (BS4Fish) project which aims to facilitate the implementation of tasks of the Working Group on the Black Sea (WGBS). The workshop was held at the premises of the Central Fisheries Research Institute (SUMAE) of the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and was attended by 12 experts from all six Black Sea riparian countries.

The main objectives of the workshop were: i) to demonstrate the difference in age determination among country experts; ii) to assess the applicability of the protocols prepared by GFCM and ICES to eliminate these differences; iii) to modify the existing protocols by taking into account the biology of the species, the structure of the anchovy stock in the Black Sea, and the temporal differences in the exploitation patterns in different countries; iv) to verify that the new protocol to be established responds to the needs of the stock assessment requirements.