Transboundary Resource Assessment Committee

The Transboundary Resource Assessment Committee (TRAC) conducts and reviews the stock assessments and projections necessary to support management activities for shared resources across the US/Canada boundary in the Gulf of Maine-Georges Bank region. It is the scientific arm of the US-Canada Transboundary Resources Steering Committee, a group that ensures discussion between the US and Canada on transboundary integrated ecosystem management issues associated with the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank marine environment. The TRAC assesses Eastern Georges Bank haddock, Eastern Georges Bank cod, and Georges Bank yellowtail flounder stocks and meets yearly to update and peer review the assessments.

The assessments developed by the TRAC are peer reviewed using an integrated process involving both TRAC assessment scientists and external experts. The resulting peer-reviewed assessments are used to advise the Transboundary Management Guidance Committee (TMGC) on the status of these resources, and any consequences of changes to the management policy. The TMGC, in turn, provides management recommendations to the US-Canada Transboundary Resources Steering Committee, which provides final recommendations that are then considered and implemented within each country’s domestic fisheries management process.