Updated 2022 assessments of the west coast rock lobster resource

The 2022 super-area assessments of the west coast rock lobster resource are updated to include new data, using basically the same approach as used over 2019-2021. The update takes account of a further year’s catch, resource monitoring and somatic growth data. The updated 2022 assessment results estimate the resource status (B75m) to be substantially worse than the previous assessments for super-areas A8+, A5+6 and A3+4 and consequently also for the resource as a whole. Current exploitable abundance is estimated to be only 1.4% of the pristine value.