This paper presents an updated stock assessment for the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) fishery of the Kerguelen Islands EEZ, CCAMLR Division 58.5.1. It includes commercial fishery data up to the end of the season 2018/2019 (end of August 2019). The updated assessment model is based on the best available data and includes abundance estimates from random stratified trawl surveys (POKER, 2006, 2010, 2013 and 2017), longline tag-release and tag-recapture data from 2007 to 2019 and priors and estimates on model parameters such as life traits (e.g. growth, maturity and natural mortality). It also uses commercial data that account for fish removals (fishing mortality and depredation) and support the estimation of year class strenght (YCS) and selectivity functions.
Compared to the previous assesment that was presented to WG-FSA 17 (Sinègre et al., 2017b), this assessment accounts for (1) updated data (2017/2018 & 2018/2019), (2) updated growth parameters, (3) updated priors on YCS and period of estimation. All model runs were conducted with the CASAL 2.30 2012-03-21 rev. 4648, that was agreed on by WG-SAM-14.
The updated model leads to smaller estimate of the virgin spawning stock biomass B0 than the one obtained in 2017, with an estimate of 206 200 tons (CI: 194 130 – 218 380). The estimate of the current SSB status of the stock is 60.6% (95% CI: 58.1%- 60.9%).and the current catch limit satisfies the CCAMLR decision rules.
KEYWORDS: Dissostichus eleginoides, Kerguelen Islands, Stock assessment, Patagonian toothfish, State-space model, Population dynamic model