22nd Regular Session of the Scientific Committee

SC22 will review progress under Project 121 toward refinement, testing, and potential adoption of candidate indicators, including responses to SC21 and Commission requests, updates to the Report Card, and any new or revised indicators and methodological developments. This will include consideration of SC21’s recommendation that the SSP investigate inclusion of estimated median phytoplankton size derived from satellite SST and chlorophyll-a data. SC22 will also review outcomes from the March 2026 workshops on ecosystem and climate indicators, which are intended to advance indicator development, testing, and application, and consider their implications for future indicator development and integration into WCPFC processes.

• Project 121 is a five-year project, scheduled to conclude in 2027, to establish a structured framework grouping indicators into climatological, oceanographic, and fishery-related categories, with several indicators already tested against agreed selection criteria. The Commission agreed to continue integrating climate considerations into scientific and management work through a pragmatic and phased approach consistent with current data and resource constraints.