Report of the fourth session of the Scientific Advisory Group [of the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission]

Major topics discussed during the session were: the state of fisheries in the WECAFC region; the status and trends of fisheries and aquaculture; the decisions of the twenty-seventh session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) and the twelfth session of WECAFC; intersessional activities and projects; factors of unsustainability and overexploitation in marine fisheries; fisheries social science; and coordination and collaboration in fisheries science in the region. The decisions of the twenty-seventh session of COFI have implications for the work of WECAFC, especially in areas such as small-scale fisheries, subsidies, marine protected areas and bycatch reduction.