Summary of Initial updated 2023 assessments of the west coast rock lobster resource

The 2023 super-area assessments of the west coast rock lobster resource are updated to include new data, using basically the same approach as used over 2019-2022. The update takes account of a further year’s catch, resource monitoring and somatic growth data. The updated 2023 assessment results estimate the resource status (B75m) for 2021 to be worse than the previous assessments for each super-area, and also for the resource as a whole in 2022 compared to the estimate made in 2022 for 2021. The 2022 exploitable abundance is estimated to be only 1.1% of its pristine value.