The SPRFMO, comprised of 15 countries, including Chile, as well as the European Union, is responsible for research and the adoption of management measures for horse mackerel and cuttlefish fisheries, deep-sea fisheries, monitoring and protecting vulnerable environments, habitat monitoring, exploratory fishing, climate change, and other issues in the high seas of the South Pacific.
The Scientific Committee (SC) of the Organization met from September 8 to 13 in Wellington, New Zealand. The IFOP delegation was composed of Dr. (c.) Ignacio Payá and Dr. José Zenteno, both from the Resource Assessment Department, and Ms. Karen Belmar from the Fisheries Assessment Department. Researcher Payá participated by giving presentations on horse mackerel and cuttlefish, and researcher Belmar on satellite tagging of cuttlefish. Mr. Payá also serves as vice-president of the CC.
During the 13th CC, Dr. Ricardo Oliveros-Ramos was appointed president and Dr. (c) Ignacio Payá as vice-president of this Committee for a second two-year term (2025-2026). This appointment must be ratified by the Commission in February 2026.
Prior to the meeting, IFOP compiled and submitted national data in the working group on horse mackerel resources for the updated stock assessment and the preparation of the Chilean report. It also participated in the Management Strategies Evaluation workshop held in Seattle this year. At this preliminary meeting, IFOP researchers Ignacio Payá and José Zenteno participated in the data review, stock assessment, and evaluation processes. and a quota recommendation for 2026. For the horse mackerel resource, the committee confirmed the healthy condition of the stock, but did not reach consensus on the recommendation to increase the catch quota, which will be resolved by the Commission in February 2026.
In the cuttlefish working group prior to the 13th CC, IFOP participated in the stock assessment meeting held online in July 2025, where the updated resource assessment in FAO Area 87 was presented, and in the in-person stock assessment simulation workshop held in Wellington, where the progress of the SQUIDIM simulation program (programmed by I. Payá) was presented and analyzed. During the 13th meeting, IFOP worked on biological and fisheries aspects, procedures for contributing data and information by country, stock assessment aspects, and recommendations to the Commission.
At this Committee session, an important milestone to highlight is that Chile, Peru, and Ecuador committed to sharing data and information from their EEZs (jurisdictional waters in the case of Peru) in order to jointly assess the abundance of cuttlefish in the SPRFMO area and in the EEZs of coastal countries.
IFOP’s participation is part of the projects Status and Exploitation Possibilities of Jack Mackerel 2026; Status and Exploitation Possibilities of Cuttlefish 2026; and Scientific Advisory Services on International Fisheries Matters, contracted by MINECON to IFOP and implemented by the Department of Resource Assessment (DER).
More information is available at: https://www.sprfmo.int/meetings/scientific-committee/13th-sc-2025
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