The Antarctic toothfish stock assessment for the Ross Sea region (Subareas 88.1 and 88.2AB) will be updated in 2017. The introduction of CM 91-05 (the Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area) will require modifications to the previous method the estimation of catch splits in the calculation of precautionary yields. In addition, work will need to be carried out in the longer term that consider how the assessment will need to be modified to respond to changes in the fishing catch and effort distributions that may result from the implementation of the Ross Sea region MPA.
An update of the 2015 stock assessment is proposed for the 2017 stock assessment which will maintain the current structure of the model while including updated catch, age-frequency, and tag-release and recapture data. Yield projections should be run that incorporate short term catch split options as required by CM 91-05. Additional options could also be developed for catch splits between the shelf, slope and north areas prior to the 2019 assessment. Sensitivities to a base case model that investigate the robustness of model assumptions or arise from the considerations of model diagnostics should also be conducted.