Fish stock assessment and statistic: short course

In recognition of the importance of fisheries to Pacific Island Countries (PICs) in terms of sustaining socio-economic livelihoods, exports, food security and poverty reduction, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Iceland and the Commonwealth Secretariat agreed to work together and provide a development assistance programme in fisheries for PICs over an initial period of three years (2005/06 – 2007/08). Part of the agreement was to provide training to fisheries experts from PICs through the UNU-FTP and also develop short courses in fisheries to be delivered in the region

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) was the main contact point and co-ordinator of programme field activities executed in the Pacific region. The Marine Studies Programme of the University of the South Pacific (USP) is the host of all short training courses conducted in the region, and provides the expert services of its staff to assist in the planning, development and delivery of the short courses. All stakeholders (CFTC, UNU-FTP, SPC & USP) agreed that the USP Marine Studies Programme will take over the short courses to be used as key modules in their under-graduate and post-graduate programmes, after the three-years development assistance programme ends in June 2008.

This Stock Assessment and Statistic course which was developed was in two parts (phase 1 and 2). The Phase 1 regional training course on Fish Stock Assessment and Statistics was held at the USP, Suva, Fiji on 22 November – 11 December 2006 and attended by 25 fisheries personnel from 18 PICs. At the end of the Phase 1 course, participants were assigned field projects to undertake in their own countries with the aim of getting them to practice what they learnt in the classroom and prepare for the Phase 2 course, which is at a more advanced level. Phase 2 was then run in January 2008 with about 18 participants.

Main goals and objectives:

To enhance the knowledge and skills in the use of basic fisheries data in the assessment of fish stocks in the Pacific Island Countries.
To review the theory and principal methods in quantitative biology and fisheries science with particular emphasis on improving skills through practical training exercises.
To review recent developments in multi-species ecosystem approach and their potential use in fisheries science and management.
To enable fisheries personnel to establish and develop a database of their inshore resources
To develop teaching of graduate fisheries courses at the USP.
To provide participants with basic understanding of fisheries data to be used for stock assessment and to explore and learn stock assessment techniques suitable for the regional fisheries.