The establishment of the Working Group on Reproductive Potential followed a recommendation of the Symposium on "Variations in Maturation, Growth, Condition and Spawning Stock Biomass Production in Groundfish" hosted by NAFO Scientific Council from 9-11 September 1998, Lisbon, Portugal. The Working Group (WG) is comprised of members representing 8 countries (Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom, and USA).
Two publications were completed to meet the goals of the first set of Terms of References. A special volume of the
Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science (Vol. 33) was published in December 2003 that contained 9 peer-reviewed articles authored by members of the Working Group. Secondly, a large volume of the
NAFO Scientific Council Studies (No. 37) was published containing short summaries and citation sources on stock structure and reproductive potential data (e.g., abundance, length-at-age data, maturation, condition, and fecundity) for 53 fish stocks (all of the NAFO stocks and several ICES stocks). This publication will likely serve as a good reference source for reproductive data pertaining to each stock. Both publications are available on the NAFO website.
Following this publication a new Terms of Reference was adopted and a workshop to illustrate how reproductive data can be further integrated into NAFO stock assessments was discussed. The format for publication of results for the second set of ToRs will likely include both peer and non-peer reviewed outlets and has yet to be determined for each specific ToR.