Management implications of trends in recruitment deviates of Indian Ocean yellowfin

The stock assessments of tropical tunas contain scenarios with significant trends in process error that have been overlooked. However, the implications of these trends remain unquantified. In this document we address the trends in recruitment deviates of the 2021 stock assessment of Indian Ocean yellowfin. We use recent average recruitment and deviates’ estimates in forward projections and discard models with significant trends in recruitment deviates to evaluate their management implications. With these, we provide a range of catch levels that would allow recovering the stock towards management targets and compare it with the management advice developed during the 2021 stock assessment.