Stock Assessment of Striped Marlin (Kajikia audax) in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. Davies, N., S. Hoyle and J. Hampton. Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Oceanic Fisheries Program, Nouméa, New Caledonia

This paper presents the 2012 assessment of striped marlin in the south-western Pacific Ocean updating the previous assessment done in 2006. This assessment is supported by several other analyses which are documented separately, but should be considered when reviewing this assessment as they underpin many of the fundamental inputs to the models. These include standardised CPUE analyses of aggregate Japanese and Taiwanese longline catch and effort data (Hoyle & Davies 2012); standardised CPUE analyses of operational catch and effort data for Australian longline fishery (Robert Campbell 2012); standardized CPUE for the recreational fisheries in Australia (Ghosn et al. 2012) and New Zealand (Holdsworth and Kendrick, 2012), and new biological estimates for growth, the length-weight relationship, and maturity at age (Kopf, 2009, 2011). The assessment includes a series of model runs describing stepwise changes from the 2006 assessment model (bcase06) to develop a new “reference case2” model (Ref.case), and then a series of “one-off” sensitivity models that represent a single change from the Ref.case model run. A sub-set of key model runs was taken from the sensitivities that represent a set of plausible model runs, and these were included in a structural uncertainty analysis (grid) for consideration in developing management advice.

This is the reference case scenario for Striped Marlins (Kajikia audax) for the 2012 Stock Assessment.