Vázquez A., J. M. Casas and R. Alpoim. 

For September 2003, the Scientific Council initiated its Special Session titled Workshop on Mapping and Geostatistical Methods for Fisheries Stock Assessment, as a specifi c topic of interest to the Scientific Council. The Council invited David Kulka (Canada) and Lisa Hendrickson (USA) to design and convene the workshop. It was suggested that the focus should be to provide a basic understanding of the geostatistical concepts and methods and tools that could be used by the Scientific Council in the context of stock assessments.

During 10–12 September 2003, the Scientific Council held the Special Session in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of NAFO, at the Holiday Inn in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. David Kulka (Canada) and Lisa Hendrickson (USA) were conveners, and Nicholas Bez (France), Reiner Schlitzer (EU – Germany), Jerry Black (Canada) and Mark Simpson (Canada) were invited instructors.

At its meeting of 15–19 September 2003, the Council noted the success of the Workshop and that the complete report will be published as SCS Doc 03/22. During the September 2004 many scientists proposed that the report should be published in the Scientific Council Studies series, and the Council intersessionally agreed to make this Studies publication. This publication endorses the success of the workshop and the possibilities opened to apply geostatistical analyses in stock assessments.

At its meeting during 2–16 June 1993, the Scientific Council noted that a complete scientific review of results from the Northern Cod Science Program of Canada was scheduled for late-1994, and the coordinator of the Program, J. S. Campbell, should be invited to consider a NAFO publication for a collection of papers. The Council noted a group of papers dealing with Northern Cod presented at its June 1993 meeting appeared suitable for a single publication. At its meeting during 7–10 September 1993, the Council expressed its appreciation to J. S. Campbell for accepting this task, and the Secretariat undertook to complete the publication by the end of 1994.