Stock assessment of Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) in Subarea 48.3 – proposed model updates

This work presents updates to the stock assessment of Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) in Subarea 48.3 following the recommendations of WG-FSA-2021. Additional otolith readings from the period 2012-2017 are also considered for inclusion in the assessment. Additionally, a revision to the fitting of the survey abundance index is presented.

The authors recommend that future model runs should incorporate updated recruitment assumptions, growth parameters, age compositions and revised survey uncertainty estimation when presenting future updates of this assessment to WG-FSA. Catch selectivity breaks should continue to be monitored as further historic ageing data is included in the assessment.