MOREHEAD CITY – Staff with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries will hold a workshop by webinar June 16-17 with scientists who are continuing the peer review of a draft assessment of the Albemarle-Roanoke striped bass stock.
Discussions are scheduled for 1-5 p.m. June 16 and, if needed, from 1-5 p.m. June 17.
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The public may listen to the workshop by phone or listen and view presentations in real-time by joining online. The workshops are open to allow the public to observe the peer review process, but public comment will not be accepted.
Additionally, at any point during the workshop, the division may close the discussions to the public to allow the peer reviewers to deliberate and complete a draft version of their peer review report, and for the stock assessment work group to address any outstanding tasks.
A stock assessment is a scientific analysis that uses information gathered from commercial and recreational fishermen and data from on-the-water scientific sampling and observations to determine the health of a fish population and predict how that population may respond to different management measures.
A peer review is an evaluation of scientific work by independent and unbiased experts. A peer review of a fisheries stock assessment evaluates the validity of the data used, the appropriateness of the assessment model used and the rationale of any assumptions used to determine if the science conducted is adequate for use in fisheries management. Peer review scientists have not been involved in or had input into the development of the stock assessment and have no stake in its outcome.
In recent years, the division has held in-person workshops and opened the peer review process to the public to improve the communication between the peer reviewers and division stock assessment scientists and to improve public understanding of fisheries stock assessments.