Browsing by Subject "Natural mortality"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Application of ADAPT-VPA to Antarctic minke whales in the JARPA research area
    (2006) Mori, Mitsuyo; Kitakado, Toshihide; Butterworth, Doug S
    The ADAPT-VPA assessment methodology originally developed by Butterworth et al. (1999) has been greatly improved by taking into account various comments made during a series of IWC-SC meetings and is applied here to abundance estimates (from both IDCR/SOWER and JARPA surveys) as well as catch at age data (both commercial and scientific) for the I and P-stocks of Antarctic minke whales. The improvements to the methodology allow account to be taken of various further aspects, primarily: 1) inter-annual differences in the distribution of the population between different management Areas, 2) a stock-recruitment relationship, and 3) the effects of possible ageing-error. Furthermore sensitivities to various functional forms for selectivity and natural mortality with age are explored. The general pattern shown by the results for both stocks is of a minke whale abundance trend that increased over the middle decades of the 20th Century to peak at about 1970, and then stabilized or declined somewhat for the next three decades. The recruitment trend is similar, though with its peak slightly earlier. The annual natural mortality rate, M, is estimated to be 0.056 with a CV of 0.16 for the I-stock, and 0.069 with a CV of 0.15 for the P-stock for the “Reference case” assessments. When only the JARPA abundance estimates are used for tuning, M is estimated as 0.038 and 0.060 for the I- and P-stocks, respectively. The estimation of M is fairly robust to the various assumptions of the model. The CVs of these M estimates for the “Reference case” assessments, when compared with those of typically 0.35 for the Areaspecific assessments of Butterworth et al. (1999) which were based on fewer data, indicate an improvement in the precision of these estimates due to the accumulation of data over the long-term of the JARPA surveys. The fits of the stock-recruitment model generally require a carrying capacity for minke whales that first increased and then stabilized or declined somewhat during the last century, and suggest MSYR(1+) values in the 4-6% range. The improved precision in the estimation of M may contribute in the improvement of management and assessment of this species on a stock-specific basis, since it can reduce the uncertainty concerning the value of M and can provide an improved prior distribution for MSYR. The latter in particular, in the context of providing a measure of the productivity of which the species is capable, is essential information for effective RMP implementation through reduction of the range of plausible scenarios which need to be considered in Implementation Simulation Trials.
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    Open Access
    Further progress on application of ADAPT-VPA to Antarctic minke whales
    (2007) Mori, Mitsuyo; Butterworth, Doug S; Kitakado, Toshihide
    The ADAPT-VPA assessment methodology originally developed by Butterworth et al. (1999) has been appreciably advanced by taking into account various comments made during a series of IWC-SC meetings and is applied here to abundance estimates (from both IDCR/SOWER and JARPA surveys) as well as catch at age data (both commercial and scientific) for the I and P-stocks of Antarctic minke whales. The improvements to the methodology allow account to be taken of various further aspects, primarily: 1) inter-annual differences in the distribution of the population between different management Areas, 2) a stock-recruitment relationship, 3) the effects of possible ageing-error, and 4) the effects of possible change in age-at-sexual maturity over time as indicated by analyses of readings of transition phases in ear plugs. Furthermore sensitivities to various functional forms for selectivity and natural mortality with age are explored. The general pattern shown by analysis for both stocks is of a minke whale abundance trend that increased over the middle decades of the 20th Century to peak at about 1970, and then stabilized or declined somewhat for the next three decades. The recruitment trend is similar, though with its peak slightly earlier. The annual natural mortality rate, M, is estimated to be 0.056 with a CV of 0.16 for the I-stock, and 0.069 with a CV of 0.15 for the P-stock for the “Reference case” assessments. When only the JARPA abundance estimates are used for tuning, M is estimated as 0.037 and 0.060 for the I- and P-stocks, respectively. The estimation of M is fairly robust to the various assumptions of the model. This analysis is considered preliminary, as conclusions relating to estimates of M and trends in abundance and recruitment obtained using this approach await further revisions of 1) abundance estimates obtained from IDCR and JARPA surveys, and 2) error-models for the catch-at-age data, particularly those obtained from the commercial harvests.
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    Open Access
    Some modifications to the current ADAPT-VPA model for Antarctic minke whales
    (2008) Mori, Mitsunyo; Butterworth, Doug S
    The current ADAPT-VPA model of Mori et al. (2007) for Antarctic minke whales in Areas IIIE to VW is modified in two respects. One is the revision of the stock-recruitment relationship, and the other is the simplification of the functional form of the carrying capacity. AIC indicates that the model which includes the above two modifications is better compared to the “Reference case” scenario of Mori et al. (2007). Thus, future analyses will regard this modified version as a new “Reference case” scenario, which has the incidental advantage of corresponding more closely to the assumptions made in the SCAA (Statistical Catch at Age) approach of Punt and Polacheck (2006) to analysis of these data.