South Atlantic: A Primer on the SEDAR Stock Assessment Process

SEDAR (Southeast Data, Assessment and Review) is the cooperative program through which stock assessments of Council managed fisheries resources in the Southeastern United States are developed and reviewed. SEDAR was initially developed by NOAA Fisheries' Southeast Fisheries Science Center and the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council to improve the quality and reliability of stock assessments and to ensure a robust and independent peer review of stock assessment products. The program was expanded in 2003 to address the assessment needs of all three fishery management councils in the Southeast Region (South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean) and to provide a platform for reviewing relevant assessments developed through the Atlantic and Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commissions as well as state fisheries agencies within the southeast.