Updated 2020 assessments and deterministic projections for West Coast rock lobster

The 2019 assessments and deterministic projections for the five super-areas for the west coast rock lobster resource are updated to 2020, using basically the same approach as in 2019. The update takes account of a further year’s catch, resource monitoring and somatic growth data, and incorporates revisions made in 2020 of estimates of past poaching levels. Deterministic projections are calculated on an identical basis to that used in 2019. Four levels of future (legal) total CC TAC are considered for projections: these are either zero, 549t, the DEFF’s final TAC selection of 837t, as well as 1084t. Updated total biomass trends are more pessimistic than those estimated in 2019.