OMP 2020 candidates for the Nightingale rock lobster fishery

The performances of a number of OMP candidates for the fishery for rock lobster at Nightingale are reported. These performances do not show much variation amongst the various candidates. For this and other reasons it is recommended that CMP9 be adopted as the new OMP for Nightingale. This CMP has a TAC ceiling of 100 MT. Very little further resource protection (which is in any case already certainly adequate) is provided by a CMP with a lower TAC ceiling. All the CMPs have appropriate feedback, so that if the resource declines in the future, the future TAC will do so too. An added precautionary feature defines an Ilim catch rate below which the TAC can decline faster than the baseline constraint of 5% pa given the occurrence of specified “Exceptional Circumstances”; this feature is built into the CMPs

Initial results from the development of a new OMP 2020 for Tristan da Cunha island rock lobster resource

Development of a revised OMP (OMP 2020) for the Tristan island rock lobster resource first leads to a recommendation to include the annual Edinburgh/GS CPUE and the biomass survey index as well as the Tristan powerboat CPUE index as inputs to the formula to provide an annual TAC recommendation. Following an extensive comparison exercise, two options are put forward as candidates for the revised OMP: CMP1 and CMP2. Both reflect slightly less risk of undue resource depletion than under the current OMP 2016. CMP1 is very similar to that current OMP, and is expected to maintain annual TACs close to 120 MT. In contrast, under CMP2 TACs would be expected to increase slightly over the next decade, accompanied by a slight decrease in the catch rate compared to that under CMP1

Updated 2018 west coast rock lobster assessment results and associated biomass projections under a range of constant future legal catch levels

A new set of 2018 assessments for all five super-areas for the west coast rock lobster resource has been completed. These are now used as bases for projecting the resource (in each super-area) forwards under a number of constant future legal catch (CC) scenarios, as well as for different past and future poaching scenarios, which also have different impacts on the assessments. Results are reported mainly in relation to the resource as a whole, but an Appendix provides more detailed results for super-area A8+, in which the bulk of the resource is to be found at present

Addendum to: Further 2018 west coast rock lobster assessment and associated biomass projections results

This Addendum provides further results for the two-step TAC phase down option, where the distribution of the TAC amongst the Super-areas is changed. The shifts from A8+ are to either or both of A34 and A7. The Results are shown in the Tables and Figures below, and correspond to the “7% recovery” option

2018 updated west coast rock lobster assessments

A new set of 2018 assessments for all five super-areas for the west coast rock lobster resource has recently been completed. These provide the bases for projecting the resource forwards (in each super-area) under alternative future catches to in turn provide a basis for management advice, as is reported in MARAM/IWS/2018/WCRL/P4. Limitations of the analysis are also discussed

Updated horse mackerel assessments and projections

This document reports updated 2019 horse mackerel assessments, along with some initial projections. The updated assessments provide indications of improved resource status, with consequent implications for management advice. However, before final calculations to facilitate development of such advice are specified and conducted, the DWG needs first to give attention to whether this updated information as yet provides a sufficiently strong scientific basis to allow firm conclusions to be drawn concerning such improvement in statu

Proposed poaching time series for use in final population models

This document presents the proposals from the poaching task group for time series of annual poaching tonnages from the resource as a whole for use in population models