Horse Mackerel Assessment sensitivity to include dual-rights vessels’ nominal CPUE

Sensitivity of the baseline horse mackerel assessment (i.e. without allowing for special adjustments to account for the very low Desert Diamond CPUE for 2014 and 2015) to the inclusion of dual-rights vessels’ nominal CPUE is investigated. This leads to slightly improved estimates of current biomass and stock status. The model is able to fit the 2014 and 2015 CPUE data points for these vessels reasonably without the need for further model adjustment.