2007 assessment of the toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) resource in the Prince Edward Islands vicinity

• Main Authors: Brandão, Anabela, Butterworth, Doug S
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2006
• Subjects: Butterworth; Prince Edward Islands
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18979; https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/11427/18979/1/Brand%c3%a3o_2007_assessment_2006.pdf

The ASPM assessment of the Prince Edward Islands toothfish resource by Brandão and Butterworth (2006) that permitted annual fluctuations about a deterministic stock-recruitment relationship is updated to take account of further catch, GLM standardised CPUE and catch-at-length information that has become available for the years 2006 and 2007. The assessment allows for a second fleet to accommodate data from a pot fishery that operated in 2004 and 2005. Biological parameter values adopted for Subarea 48.3 are used. The resource is estimated to be at about 37% of its average pre-exploitation level in terms of spawning biomass. It is suggested that it would be prudent to restrict annual legal catches to 500 tonnes or less, unless a large proportion of the catch is to be taken by pots (which avoid the cetacean predation associated with longlining).