Further results for the Sex- and Area-specific Age-Structured Production Model for the South Coast rock lobster resource

Abstract

This document provides an update on the development of sex- and area-specific operating models for testing candidate OMPs for the South Coast rock lobster resource. Models are needed which can provide reasonable fits to both the CPUE and catch-at-length data available. Generally this has required the introduction of either time-varying selectivity or effort saturation effects. For the former, two approaches have been suggested: “MARAM” and “OLRAC”. This document presents improved results for the MARAM approach through use of a more complex selectivity function for Area 3 (Model 2), and also implements a version of the “OLRAC” approach (Model 3e). Implementations involving effort saturation are underway