PICES-2020 Report of SCIENCE BOARD OCTOBER 7/8 – 9/10,2020

The objective of the Convention is to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of the fisheries resources in the convention area while protecting the marine ecosystems of the North Pacific Ocean in which those resources occur. [...] The workshop participants endorsed continuing the discussions and collaborations between NPFC and PICES, with potential ideas of forming a joint PICES- NPFC Working Group and suggesting a broader topic session in the PICES 2020 annual meeting on the effects of the environment on small pelagic fishes that would have participation and engagement from a larger portion of the PICES community of resear. [...] The proposed 3-year Working Group will advance the understanding of the distribution of the biodiversity of seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean. [...] This effort would build on the contributions of WG-32 by mapping the distribution of seamount biodiversity and expands research in some of the unique and abundant ecosystems of the North Pacific Ocean for PICES. [...] Major applications of the science products developed by the Working Group on Biodiversity of Seamounts would be the provision of further technical guidance on the development and application of species distribution models, maps of known and predicted distributions of the benthic, demersal, and pelagic taxa associated with seamounts, and the development of seamount biodiversity indicators.