Thanks to efforts by the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) to train the next generation of stock assessment scientists, four members of the Punt lab had their work accepted as the best available science by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council. Caitlin Allen Axelrud (Punt), Felipe Hurtado-Ferro (Punt), Peter Kuriyama (Branch), Kelli Johnson (Punt), Qi Lee (Punt), Maite Pons (Hilborn), Merrill Rudd (Branch/Hilborn), Christine Stawitz (Essington), and John Trochta (Branch) spent much of the last academic year preparing stock assessment updates for petrale and sablefish. Their work was accepted as the best available science at the June 2015 management council meeting. Throughout the process they were mentored by Dr. Owen Hamel and Dr. Melissa Haltuch of the NWFSC.