The International Symposium on Stock Enhancement & Searanching

Guidelines

International Symposia on Stock Enhancement and Sea Ranching
Background

The first International Symposia on Stock Enhancement and Sea Ranching (ISSESR) was the brainchild of Dr Erlend Moksness and hosted by the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research in Bergen in 1997. The global significance of the meeting was soon apparent and the Japanese Sea Farming Association quickly offered to host the 2nd ISSESR in Kobe in 2002. The 3rd ISSESR was hosted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), US Department of Commerce, in Seattle in 2006. The 4th ISSESR was hosted by Shanghai Fisheries University in China in 2011, in conjunction with the 9th Asian Fisheries Forum. The 5th ISSESR was hosted by the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries in Sydney in 2015. The 6th ISSESR was hosted by Florida State University and Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota in 2019. The 7th ISSESR is hosted by the Instituto de Fomento Pesquero (IFOP) in Puerto Varas in 2024. IFOP has been working since 1964 on sustainable and ecosystemic use of the country’s aquatic resources, significantly stimulating aquaculture and sustainable fishing in Chile, as well as contributing to the generation and transfer of fundamental knowledge for environmental decision-making in the era of climate change.

An important feature of these ISSESRs is that the driving forces behind the meetings have been a group of scientists, and they have been either hosted by or sponsored by national fisheries agencies, with a strong interest in this discipline. There is every reason to believe that there will be growing demand to hold an ISSESR every 4 years for the foreseeable future.

The methods used to the run the past ISSESRs have worked well. The purpose of this document, therefore, is to outline how the past ISSESR meetings have been organised so that future sponsoring nations can apply the same approach.

Organization of the meeting

The host country  needs to identify a person (she or he) who will act as the convener.  The convener will be the person organizing the symposium and also the responsible person. 

To help out the convener in the preparation of the symposium, two committees are needed to organise an ISSESR:

  • A Steering Committee, comprised of members from the host institution and other experienced people from the host country.
  • An International Scientific Committee, representative of the discipline worldwide.
Responsibilities of the Steering Committee:
  • Organise the venue, accommodation, and all other logistic support to make the ISSESR a world-class scientific meeting.
  • Publicise the ISSESR worldwide among fisheries scientists and managers.
  • Raise financial support for the ISSESR to ensure that the costs of registration are kept at reasonable levels, and to cover the travel costs of invited keynote speakers and representatives from developing countries.
  • Maintain an attractive website for the meeting to help publicise the event and facilitate registration, and to act as a repository for the information presented during the scientific program.
  • Appoint the Chair of the International Scientific Committee (ISC), upon the recommendation of the outgoing ISC.
  • Assist the Chair of the ISC to appoint members of the ISC on the understanding that the ISC shall consist of:
    • Convenors of previous ISSESRs in Norway, Japan, the USA, etc.
    • Broad representation of scientists from the discipline in the host country.
    • Good representation of key scientists from the discipline worldwide
Responsibilities of the International Scientific Committee:
  1. Develop the scientific program.
  2. Recommend keynote speakers.
  3. Evaluate abstracts for oral and poster presentations.
  4. Assist the Steering Committee to promote the meeting internationally.
  5. Select participants to receive the awards for best oral presentation, best oral presentation by a student, best poster presentation and the ISSESR Achievement Award. The awards will then be presented by the Chair of the Steering Committee.
  6. Publish peer-reviewed manuscripts in Reviews in Fisheries Science.
  7. Identify a host organisation and venue for the next ISSESR.
  8. Recommend someone to Chair the International Scientific Committee for the next ISSESR.
  9. The chair of the ISC should be outside the host country, however, the ISC should include members from the host country.  The idea behind this is to make sure there is an ownership internationally.  Whatever recommended by the ISC, the convener makes the final decisions.

 

(Authored by: Erlend Moksness, 15 May 2007: Revised 25 May 2011)