Initial results towards a new ‘benchmark’ assessment of the South African anchovy resource

A ‘benchmark’ assessment of the South African anchovy resource is currently underway which will provide Operating Models for the upcoming Management Strategy Evaluation to simulation test a new joint Operational Management Procedure for sardine and anchovy. This document presents initial results, comparing between key model assumptions in order to select a baseline model. These include assumptions regarding natural mortality, stock recruitment relationships and time‐varying growth and commercial selectivity curves.