Therefore, only the Stock Status Report(s), which contain the consensus decisions of the meeting, should be used as sources of information on the status of the resource assessed. [...] In spite of this each of the reviewers made valuable contributions to the review of these assessments and the chair is indebted to them. [...] Since the assessment of the resource is largely based on the results from the acoustic surveys, there was further discussion on the estimates. [...] There was discussion of the completeness and methodological aspects of the acoustic surveys but it was noted that the 2000 surveys adhered closely to the protocols and were the most complete to date. [...] During the discussion on the advice, it was noted that catches in 2000 did not reach the TAC and that despite having catches in the range of 78,000-85,000 t over the last several years, there were no signs that the stock is recovering.