Colleagues and I are currently looking for two post-doctoral candidates to collaborate on spatio-temporal models:

• 2.5 years of funding to understand environmental drivers of pelagic fish distribution near Vancounver Island BC, including impacts on predator-prey dynamics and natural mortality (details at https://tinyurl.com/lrpqmmg). The candidate must be located in Nanaimo for the majority of work (but funding includes periodic travel to Seattle), and must have received a Ph.D. within five years. Interested applicants should email: 1) CV; and 2) cover letter outlining the experience and skills they bring to the project to Jennifer Boldt (Jennifer.Boldt@dfo-mpo.gc.ca), Jim Thorson (James.Thorson@noaa.gov), and Robyn Forrest (Robyn.Forrest@dfo-mpo. gc.ca).

• 1 year of funding to understand how best to estimate length-structure for tropic tuna species, in preparation for an international CAPAM meeting on the topic in March 2018 (details at http://tinyurl.com/l4vgaev). The candidate must be located in La Jolla, and will be invited to contribute to the planned CAPAM meeting. Applicants should send a CV plus an cover letter explaining their interest to Brice Semmens (semmens@ucsd.edu), Jim Thorson (James.Thorson@noaa.gov), and Mark Maunder (mmaunder@iattc.org).

I’m also happy to point out several new papers demonstrating spatio-temporal analysis using FishStats models including:

1. Multispecies models for interactions using package MIST: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.1760/full
2. Showing improvement in assessment models given spatio-temporal index standardization using package SpatialDeltaGLMM: http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfas-2016-0137#.WRxln_nytaQ
3. Attributing distribution shift to climate and age-structured dynamics using package VAST: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/faf.12225/full
4. Synthesizing 10+ data sets to estimate distribution for input to ecosystem models using package SpatialDeltaGLMM: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016578361730111X
5. Standardizing fishery-dependent data while accounting for fisher targetting using package VAST: http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfas-2015-0598#.WRxnQvnytaQ

and the many exciting papers in the forthcoming CJFAS special issue on spatial stock assessment models.

Finally, Mark Maunder, Brice Semmens and I are organizing a CAPAM meeting in La Jolla for Feb. 26-March 2, 2018 on spatio-temporal models for analyzing compositional and fishery data. We look forward to hearing about the diverse work in this topic, and will organizing a special issue (maybe in ICES JMS).

cheers, Jim