Sensitivity of the west coast rock lobster length-based stock assessment to a consistently higher somatic growth rate

Johnston, Susan J; Butterworth, Doug S

Sensitivity of the west coast rock lobster length-based stock assessment to a consistently higher somatic growth rate

Working Paper

2005

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Marine Resource Assessment and Management Group

Faculty

Faculty of Science

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Abstract

A recent study by Dubula et al. (2005) on the effect of tagging on the subsequent growth rate of rock lobsters has shown that there may be an appreciable reduction in the growth rate of male rock lobsters as a result of tagging. The amount of somatic growth reduction that might be occurring is of the order 2-3 mm per annum. A key question then to consider is what implications this might have for the sustainable productivity from the resource.