Brief summary of the reasons underlying the WCRL SWG West Coast rock lobster TAC recommendations for the 2020/21 season

This document provides a brief summary of the reasons underlying the West Coast rock lobster Scientific Working Group’s TAC recommendations for the 2020 season.

A TAC of 837t (a 22.8% reduction of the 2019/20 TAC) was decided by the Minister for the 2020/21 fishing season, taking into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry, the highly depleted status of the West Coast Rock Lobster Resource (currently ~2% of pristine levels), and lower-than expected resource status indicators (taken from the Press release at the time).

Since 2017 when Exceptional Circumstances were declared, TAC recommendations for the West Coast rock lobster have not been based on the application of an OMP, but rather on the most recent updated assessments, combined with a series of constant catch projections to inform on predictions of resource recovery by 2025.