A synthesis of the authors' experience with the evaluation and implementati
on of management procedures in Australasia, southern Africa, and the Intern
ational Whaling Commission (IWC) is presented. The development of operating
models for testing such procedures for the fisheries in question over thei
r respective ranges of uncertainty, together with the statistics used to as
sess procedure performances, are considered first, and then suggestions are
made that increasing experience is making it possible to develop a minimal
set of key factors to include in such robustness trials. Some general less
ons are drawn, primarily from the IWC's process of developing its Revised M
anagement Procedure. Further implementation issues discussed are: candidate
procedure selection in principle and practice, the extent of robustness te
sting desirable, the link to the evaluation of research priorities, and the
reception accorded the management procedure approach by industry and decis
ion-makers. Management procedures are seen to have potential benefits over
the annual assessment basis for determination of Total Allowable Catch, but
key problem areas that remain concern the definition of risk and the relat
ive weights to be accorded to the various scenarios (of differing plausibil
ities) considered in robustness tests. (C) 1999 International Council for t
he Exploration of the Sea.