A method to convert the hydroacoustic survey estimates of small pelagic biomass from a March/April 2025 survey to equivalent biomasses that might have been surveyed in November 2024, for use in 2025 fisheries management advice

<p dir="ltr">A hydroacoustic survey of the small pelagic biomass off the South African coastline was conducted in March/April 2025 in lieu of the cancelled November/December 2024 survey. This document considers the timeseries of historical ratios of November : April biomasses corresponding to these surveys from the most recent full stock assessments. Based on these assessments, the March/April 2025 survey estimates of biomass for anchovy, sardine west of Cape Agulhas, sardine east of Cape Agulhas and round herring could be multiplied by factors of 0.98, 0.92, 1.12 and 0.91 respectively to adjust the biomass to correspond to late 2024 for use in fisheries management advice for 2025. However, lower ratios should additionally be considered given the variability in these ratios.</p>