Proceedings of the Pacific regional peer review of candidate limit reference points for Pacific herring in British Columbia using a closed-loop simulation modelling approach : Compte rendu de l'examen par les pairs régional du Pacifique sur les points de références limite possibles pour hareng du Pacifique en Colombie-Britannique en suivant l'approche du modèle de simulation en boucle fermě

The Chair discussed the role of participants, the purpose of the various RPR publications (Science Advisory Report, Proceedings and Research Document), and the definition and process around achieving consensus decisions and advice. [...] The Chair reviewed the Agenda (Appendix C) and the Terms of Reference for the meeting, highlighting the objectives that had been set for this RPR process. [...] The expansion factor q was set to q=1, rather than using a model-generated estimate of q. This decision was made by the authors to allow for the review and evaluation of the results without the added confounding uncertainty attributed to estimating q. Results from the simulation exercise confirmed that LRP’s are useful to determine the conservation performance of management procedures. [...] LIMIT-REFERENCE POINTS There were suggestions from both authors to improve the treatment of candidate LRPs, including listing the candidate LRPs in the Methods section to provide clarity, and providing more detail to support the conclusion that LRPs that track the dynamics of natural mortality and growth (NSB0), reference the lowest level of biomass from which the stock has recovered (Historical B [...] Setting q=1 The current assessment model used in previous years for Pacific Herring does not have q fixed as equal to 1. The authors noted that the purpose for setting the expansion factor, or catchability quotient, q equal to 1 in the simulation model was to reduce the noise to the outputs.