An initial update of the Reference Case assessment and related projections for the South African hake resource.

An initial update of the Reference Case for the hake assessment is developed using the data available to date. This update is used to explore projections under OMP2014 and some variants thereof, with results compared to those at the time that this OMP was selected. Recent poor recruitments for both M. paradoxus and M. capensis indicate downturns in spawning biomass with more negative projections for future catches and population abundances than previously.