Evaluating Effectiveness of U.S. Management Measures: Summary of the North Atlantic Right Whale Technical Expert Working Group on Evaluating Effectiveness of U.S. Management Measures, 21-23 May 2018, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) convened an expert working group at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, May 21-23, 2018, to gather input on how NMFS should evaluate the effectiveness of U.S. management measures for reducing ship strikes and entanglements of North Atlantic right whales. The primary purpose of the meeting was to: (1) review available data sets and analyses (for both the U.S. and Canada) on the rates and types of entanglements and vessel strikes with right whales to better understand their potential impact on population dynamics, and (2) identify potential methods/analytical tools (and associated pros/cons) available to address the key questions.