Management Procedure Evaluation Status
• Management Procedure (MP) evaluation is being pursued in the strict sense (i.e. as in the International Whaling Commission and Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna), in which the data to be input into the MP, the analysis, and the Harvest Control Rule (HCR) are all defined in advance and simulation-tested together.
• MPs have evolved incrementally since TCMP-03 (2019), including the addition of a new class of MP that conducts internal projections, in a manner that is analogous to how the Commission might interpret the Kobe 2 Strategy Matrix.
• A set of 6 MPs is presented here to illustrate typical performance. Simulations assumed that the first MP-derived TAC setting would be in 2023 and catches in the period 2020-2022 would be the average reported catch from 2017-2019.
• The bigeye reference set Operating Model (simulator) is being iteratively developed in line with IOTC technical working party requests (WPTT and WPM). Since no changes were requested for the Operating Model in 2020, the next stage of the development process requires a formal endorsement of the OM by the Scientific Committee, at which point the selection and implementation of an MP should become the priority. Independent review should be part of this process.
• Continued funding for scientific and technical development is being sought from the Australian Government for two years August 2021 – June 2023.
• The main feedback priorities for TCMP-04 are a review of the MP tuning objectives requested in 2019, and further guidance on secondary management objectives.