Simulation testing of two estimators for the assessment of Southern Hemisphere humpback whale breeding Stock C and its component Sub-stocks

Abstract

This paper develops operating models of the C1 and C3 substocks of humpback whales in the western Indian Ocean which allow interchange between the two on the basis of the Sabbatical model for this mixing process. These operating models are used to compare the performance of the Sabbatical and Resident estimators, in what is intended as a preliminary exercise whose primary aim is to illustrate this simulation testing approach in the context of the substocks of breeding stock C of Southern Hemisphere humpback whales., .