Updating the sardine assessment based on information gained during the December 2021 survey

The sardine assessment has been updated to fit to data available up to December 2021. The data are not finalised, but are considered sufficient to inform short‐term management recommendations. The increase in the approximate December 2021 survey estimate of abundance from that observed in recent years results in an increase in the west component estimated biomass to between 225 and 390 thousand tons in November 2021. There is some greater uncertainty in the current level of south component biomass, estimated by this model to range from 223 to 685 thousand tons. This uncertainty in south component biomass determines whether the current spawner biomass is substantially above or below the historical average.