In 2013 the Commission endorsed the Scientific Committee’s recommendation to develop a process to facilitate independent reviews of CCAMLR stock assessments (CCAMLR-XXXII, paragraph 5.14). We understand that the Scientific Committee will be discussing possible avenues to achieve this goal. We believe the Commission could complement the efforts of the Scientific Committee by noting the need for action on this topic and supporting the Scientific Committee in their development of a procedure.
Independent reviews, in addition to potentially benefitting the CCAMLR stock assessment process, could serve as a mechanism for transparency of the stock assessment process, particularly if reports of such reviews are made available to the public. In providing such transparency, external reviews could be used to provide information on how CCAMLR is achieving or likely to continue to achieve the objectives of Article II.