Indian Ocean Albacore Tuna Management Procedures Evaluation: Status Report

Summary of MSE work status
• Work is being carried for the evaluation of candidate management procedures for the Indian Ocean
albacore stock. An updated operating model for this stock, based on the results of the last stock
assessment (WPTmT, 2019), is being finalized. Initial tests of candidate MPs are starting to be carried
out. Management Procedure (MP) evaluation is being pursued in the strict sense in which the data to
be input to the MP, the analysis, and the Harvest Control Rule (HCR) are all dened in advance and
simulation-tested together.
• The new operating model, although similar in approach to the previous iteration, considers a reduced
number of factors introducing uncertainty in the stock dynamics. This decision is based on analyses of
the previous grid.
• The current operating model will be presented to the upcoming session of the IOTC Working Party
on Methods for nal revision and endorsement. The software platform employed to conduct the MSE
simulations will also be presented to WPM. A nal version, incorporating the WPM suggestions, will
then be made available to the IOTC Scientific Committee.
• The same two families of management procedures as applied to other stocks, based on trends in the
CPUE and on a surplus production model, are being applied.
• Scientific and technical support funding for this work runs until in December 2021