2018 updated south coast rock lobster assessment results

Abstract

The 2017 assessment of the resource for South Coast rock lobster is updated given the two further years of catch-at-length data and one further year of CPUE data now available. Recruitment is estimated to have decreased over the last two seasons for which this is now estimable (2007 and 2008). The spawning biomass trajectory decreases slightly over recent years. Current spawning biomass is estimated to be 29% of K. The Reference Case (RC) MSY estimate is 358 MT at a Bsp/K of 0.29. Fmsy is estimated to be 0.29, though MSY-related estimates are heavily dependent on assumptions made about the stock-recruitment relationship. The RC model estimates that the resource is currently at Bmsy.