This paper presents an updated stock assessment for the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) fishery of the Crozet Islands, CCAMLR sub-area 58.6, with data up to the end of the season 2021/22 (end of August 2022). This updated assessment model is based on the best available data and includes longline tag-release, tag-recapture data from 2007 to 2022 and priors and estimates on life traits model parameters (e.g. growth, maturity and natural mortality). It also uses commercial data that account for fish removals (fishing mortality and depredation) and support the estimation of their associated selectivity functions.
Compared to the previous assessment presented at WG-FSA 2021 (Massiot-Granier et al., 2021), this assessment accounts for (1) updated data (2021/2022), (2) updated depredation rates, (3) catch-at-age data for the 2010-2022 period and (4) estimate year class strength. All model runs were conducted with the CASAL 2.30 2012-03-21 rev. 4648, that was agreed on by WG-SAM-14.
The updated model leads to a lower estimate of the virgin spawning stock biomass SSB0 than the one obtained in 2021, with an estimate of 51 570 tons (49 900 - 56 160 tons). The estimate of the current SSB status of the stock is 69% (66.1% - 72.4%) and the current catch limit of 930 tons satisfies the CCAMLR decision rules.