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1 Introduction
The North Atlantic Albacore (NALB) fishery, under the management of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), is undergoing a management strategy evaluation (MSE) process.
There are three main components in an MSE process:
- Operating models (OMs): a collection of mathematical/statistical models that describe alternative hypotheses of the historical fishery dynamics and specifications for simulating the collection of data and implementation of management measures in the future;
- Candidate management procedures (CMPs): a set of proposed algorithms that generate management recommendations from fishery data and will be evaluated in the MSE;
- Performance metrics (PMs): statistics used to quantitatively evaluate the CMPs against specified management objectives.
The OMs, CMPs, and PMs are developed as a collaborative effort between scientists, decision-makers, and other stakeholders in the fishery.
1.1 About this document
This document describes the specifications for the OMs, CMPs, and PMs that have been proposed and developed for the NALB fishery. It is a living document and will be continued to be updated so that it reflects the current state of the NALB MSE process. Members of the Albacore Species Group (ALBSG) are encouraged to provide feedback, comments, or edits to any part of this document.
The document is written using the Quarto format and can edited in any text editor. The source document is available on the MSE GitHub repository. ALBSG members can make edits to the document either directly in the online repository or by cloning the repository and submitting pull requests with their edits. Alternatively, they can email questions or comments to Agurtzane Urtizberea. The former approach has the advantage that all comments, questions, and edits are immediately visible to all members of the ALBSG. The Discussions feature on the Github repository can also be used to post questions, comments, or points for discussion related to any aspect of this document or the MSE process in general.
This document is available at the NALB MSE homepage.
2 MSE framework
The R software has been used to developed the MSE code for the NABL fishery. All code is open-source and can be found on the MSE GitHub repository.
The code developed for the NALB MSE uses the FLBEIA framework. FLBEIA (Garcia et al., 2017) is an R package that has been developed for conducting bio-economic evaluation of fisheries management strategies. The software allows the bio-economic evaluation of a wide range of management strategies in a great variety of case studies such as multi-stock, multi-fleet, stochastic and seasonal configurations. FLBEIA is built using FLR libraries. FLR is a collaborative project oriented to develop quantitative fisheries management tools.
3 Stock assessment
Previously, the NALB OMs were based on the 2013 stock assessment (Merino et al., 2020, 2014) using the MULTIFAN-CL platform (Fournier et al., 1998).
A new stock assessment was conducted in 2023 (ICCAT, 2023) using the Stock Synthesis (SS3) platform (Methot and Wetzel, 2013). The NALB OMs have been updated based on this new assessment.
The data used in the 2023 NALB assessment as well as the structure and assumptions of the assessment model are summarized in the sections below.
| Fleet code | Description | CPUE included? |
|---|---|---|
| 1_BB | Baitboat (Spain, France) | Yes |
| 2_BB_isl | Baitboat islands (Portugal Madeira/Azores, Spain Canary) for quarters 1, 3, and 4 | No |
| 3_TR_GN | Troll (Spain, France) and Gillnets (France, Ireland) | No |
| 4_MWT | Mid-water trawl (France, Ireland) | No |
| 5_JPLL_N | Japan longline north 30 | Yes |
| 6_JPLL_S | Japan longline south 30 | Yes |
| 7_TAILL_N | Taiwan longline north 30 | Yes |
| 8_TAILL_S | Taiwan longline south 30 | Yes |
| 9_USLL_N | US and Canada longline north 30 | Yes |
| 10_USLL_S | US longline south 30 | Yes |
| 11_VENLL | Venezuela longline | Yes |
| 12_MIX_KR_PA | Mixed flags longline (KR, PA, CHN) | No |
| 13_OthLL | Other longline | No |
| 14_OthSurf | Other surface gears | No |
| 15_BBisl_s2 | Baitboat islands (Portugal Madeira/Azores, Spain Canary) for quarter 2 | No |
3.1 Data
The period covered was from 1930 to 2021. The assessment mainly used landings data from longline (LL) and baitboat (BB) fleets, with a total of 15 fleets included in the model (Table 1 and Figure 2). There were seven LL and one BB (Spain and France) catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) indices (Figure 3). The catchability coefficients for the CPUE indices were assumed to be time-invariant.
Length composition data from 12 fleets were included in the model, mostly from LL and BB fleets and for the period after 1970 (Figure 2). The effective sample size (ESS) for the length composition data was established by adjusting ESS until unity was reached between modeled ESS and the Francis suggested sample size (Francis, 2011). Conditional age-at-length (CAAL) data was also included for the BB (France and Spain) fleet.
3.2 Model structure
The model was configured yearly (one season per year), one sex, one area, and a total of 16 age groups (0 to 15+). The spawning timing was January 1st.
3.3 Biological Parameters
Natural mortality (M) was age-specific and parametrized following Lorenzen (1996), with a reference M equal to 0.36 for age 6 based on the assumption of a maximum age of 15 years (Hamel and Cope, 2022). Maturity-at-age was knife-edge, with 50% at age-5 and 100% thereafter. Fecundity was proportional to body weight. Growth was parametrized following the von Bertalanffy curve (Schnute, 1981) and parameters were estimated within the model. Variability of lengths-at-age was assumed to be a function of age. Figure 4 shows a summary of the biological parametrization.
3.4 Stock-Recruitment
Expected recruitment to age-0 was calculated from the total spawning stock biomass using the Beverton-Holt stock-recruit function. Recruitment settlement was assumed to occur at month 6. The standard error for the log-normally distributed recruitment deviations (sigmaR) was fixed to 0.4. Steepness (h) was estimated within the model with a prior of 0.75 taken from the 2013 assessment.
3.5 Selectivity
Selectivity was modelled as a function of length. Dome-shaped selectivity was allowed for several LL and BB fleets, while an asymptotic selectivity was speficied for the US and Venezuela LL fleets. Splines were also used for the BB (Spain and France) and mid-water trawl. Time blocks were specified for some fleets due to changes in length composition data.
4 Operating Models
4.1 Reference OMs
During 2023 and 2024, the ALBSG developed a set of OMs considering variations in natural mortality (M), variability in recruitment (sigmaR), and the weighting of the following data sources:
- Base case (no change)
- Upweight (\(\lambda=2\)) CPUE data
- Upweight (\(\lambda=2\)) size (i.e., length composition) data
- Upweight (\(\lambda=2\)) age (i.e., CAAL) data
Per weighting scenario, 400 models were run in SS3 by randomly varying the M and sigmaR values sampled from a normal distribution with mean 0.36 and 0.4, respectively, and a coefficient of variation of 0.2 (Figure 5).
Then, 100 models per weighting scenario were selected based on maximum gradient, likelihood, and the ratio of virgin and spawning biomass values in order to remove unrealistic or nonconvergent runs. We consider this final set of 400 models (100 models per weighting scenario) as our Reference OMs.
4.2 Robustness OMs
The robustness scenarios explored the impacts of changes in \(R_0\), recruitment variability, and maximum annual catch:
Changes in \(R_0\): decrease in the \(R_0\) parameter of the Beverton-Holt relationship by 20% in the simulation period from the estimated values in the Reference OMs.
Changes in sigmaR: increase in the recruitment variability by 20% in the simulation period from the estimated values in the Reference OMs.
Maximum catch (\(C_{max}\)): maximum annual catch of 100,000 tonnes.
4.3 Validation
4.3.1 Summary Report
A Summary Report summarizes the estimated parameters, the calculated biological reference points, and the estimated stock status relative to those reference points, across the 400 Reference OMs.
4.3.2 Diagnostic Reports
Individual diagnostic reports with objective function values and plots of model fits and patterns in residuals are available for each of the 400 Reference OMs. Table 2 presents the diagnostics for a subset of four OMs per weighting scenario with the most extreme M and sigmaR values.
| M | sigmaR | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| BaseCase | |||
| Smallest M value | 0.20 | 0.40 | See diagnostics |
| Medium M value | 0.36 | 0.26 | See diagnostics |
| Largest M value | 0.52 | 0.33 | See diagnostics |
| Smallest sigmaR value | 0.36 | 0.22 | See diagnostics |
| Medium sigmaR value | 0.36 | 0.40 | See diagnostics |
| Largest sigmaR value | 0.27 | 0.56 | See diagnostics |
| CPUE | |||
| Smallest M value | 0.15 | 0.24 | See diagnostics |
| Medium M value | 0.36 | 0.35 | See diagnostics |
| Largest M value | 0.53 | 0.49 | See diagnostics |
| Smallest sigmaR value | 0.34 | 0.18 | See diagnostics |
| Medium sigmaR value | 0.37 | 0.41 | See diagnostics |
| Largest sigmaR value | 0.43 | 0.63 | See diagnostics |
| Size | |||
| Smallest M value | 0.20 | 0.32 | See diagnostics |
| Medium M value | 0.36 | 0.27 | See diagnostics |
| Largest M value | 0.52 | 0.33 | See diagnostics |
| Smallest sigmaR value | 0.36 | 0.22 | See diagnostics |
| Medium sigmaR value | 0.40 | 0.40 | See diagnostics |
| Largest sigmaR value | 0.27 | 0.56 | See diagnostics |
| Age | |||
| Smallest M value | 0.22 | 0.35 | See diagnostics |
| Medium M value | 0.35 | 0.41 | See diagnostics |
| Largest M value | 0.50 | 0.47 | See diagnostics |
| Smallest sigmaR value | 0.36 | 0.20 | See diagnostics |
| Medium sigmaR value | 0.32 | 0.43 | See diagnostics |
| Largest sigmaR value | 0.43 | 0.63 | See diagnostics |
4.4 Conditioning
The Reference OMs were conditioned in FLBEIA with the same biological configuration and fleet structure of the SS3 models (Table 1). Two main periods are modelled in the MSE framework: historical and projection periods (Figure 6), with important differences in the data generation and observation error model (OEM).
timeline
section 1930 - 2021
Historical period : - Catches from observations <br> - CPUE from OEM
section 2022 - 2050
Simulation period : - Catches from HCR <br> - CPUE from OEM <br> - Evaluate MPs
4.4.1 Observation error model
Autocorrelation in CPUE residuals were introduced in the simulations based on a previous analysis of CPUE residuals in the stock assessment model (Table 3). This observation error was introduced both in the historical and projection period for all the Reference OMs.
| Index | ρ | σ | Sign. ACF? | Autocorrelation in MSE? |
Included in MSE projection period? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1_BB | 0.10 | 0.38 | No | No | No |
| 5_JPLL_N | 0.25 | 0.30 | No | Yes | Yes |
| 6_JPLL_S | 0.39 | 0.36 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 7_TAILL_N | 0.13 | 0.29 | No | Yes | Yes |
| 8_TAILL_S | 0.54 | 0.33 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 9_USLL_N | 0.65 | 0.39 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 10_USLL_S | 0.54 | 0.35 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 11_VENLL | 0.57 | 0.42 | Yes | Yes | No |
5 Management Procedure
Simulated data was included in a stochastic surplus production model in continuous time (SPiCT). SPiCT is a full state-space model, where biomass and fishing dynamics are modelled as states, which are observed indirectly through biomass indices and commercial catches sampled with error (Pedersen and Berg, 2017). SPiCT calculates maximum sustainable yield (MSY) reference points and is able to make short-term projections. SPiCT is the estimation method in the MSE.
The management advice is given every three years (management period) and the total allowable catch (TAC) is derived from a harvest control rule (HCR, Figure 7). We evaluated a total of 15 HCRs produced by the combinations of \(F_{tgt}\) and \(B_{thr}\) shown in Figure 8. \(B_{lim}=0.4\times B_{msy}\) and \(F_{mim}=0.1\times F_{msy}\) for all cases. In addition, we imposed the following restrictions:
- The maximum TAC was 50,000 tonnes.
- Maximum increase in catch from previous management period: 25%
- Maximum decrease in catch from previous management period: 20%
6 Performance Metrics
25 PMs have been developed for the NALB MSE (Table 4) and are calculated in the simulation period. These PMs are grouped into four types:
Status: metrics related to stock status
Safety: metrics related to the probability of the stock not falling below the biological reference points
Yield: metrics related to the catch in the projection years
Stability: metrics related to the variation in the catches or TAC between management cycles
Each PM was calculated for every Reference OM (i.e., 400 PMs). Examples of each PM is given below.
| Type | Metric | Symbol | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Minimum spawner biomass relative to \(B_{msy}\) | \(minB\) | \(min(B_y/B_{msy})\) |
| Status | Mean spawner biomass relative to \(B_{msy}\) | \(meanB\) | \((\prod_y B_y/B_{msy})^{1/n_y}\) |
| Status | Mean fishing mortality relative to \(F_{msy}\) | \(meanF\) | \((\prod_y F_y/F_{msy})^{1/n_y}\) |
| Status | Probability of being in the Kobe green quadrant | \(pGreen\) | Proportion of years in green quadrant (see Figure 7) |
| Status | Probability of being in the Kobe red quadrant | \(pRed\) | Proportion of years in red quadrant (see Figure 7) |
| Safety | Probability of \(B>B_{lim}\) | \(pBlim\) | Proportion of years that \(B>B_{lim}\) |
| Safety | Probability of \(B_{lim}<B<B_{msy}\) | \(pBmsy\) | Proportion of years that \(B_{lim}<B<B_{msy}\) |
| Yield | Mean catch (short term) | \(Csht\) | Mean catch from 1 to 3 years |
| Yield | Mean catch (medium term) | \(Cmed\) | Mean catch from 5 to 10 years |
| Yield | Mean catch (long term) | \(Clon\) | Mean catch from 15 to 25 years |
| Stability | Mean absolute proportional change in catch | \(Cc\) | Mean of \(\mid\frac{C_y - C_{y-1}}{C_{y-1}}\mid\) |
| Stability | Standard deviation in catch | \(Csd\) | Catch standard deviation |
| Stability | Probability of shutdown | \(pShw\) | Proportion of years that TAC=0 |
| Stability | Probability of TAC change over a certain level | \(pTX\) | Proportion of management cycles when the ratio of change \(\frac{TAC_y - TAC_{y-1}}{TAC_{y-1}} > 10\%\) |
| Stability | Maximum amount of TAC change between management periods | \(maxTc\) | Maximum ratio of TAC change |
6.1 Examples
6.1.1 Status
6.1.2 Safety
6.1.3 Yield
6.1.4 Stability
7 Results
7.1 Performance metrics
| Ftgt | Bthr |
Status
|
Safety
|
Yield
|
Stability
|
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| minB | meanB | meanF | pGreen | pRed | pBlim | pBmsy | Csht | Cmed | Clon | Cc | Csd | pShw | pTX | maxTc | ||
| 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.45 | 1.60 | 0.74 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 43,507 | 38,233 | −1% | 4,960 | 0% | 29% | 17% |
| 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.45 | 1.60 | 0.74 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 43,507 | 38,233 | −1% | 4,960 | 0% | 29% | 17% |
| 0.8 | 1 | 1.45 | 1.60 | 0.74 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 43,507 | 38,250 | −1% | 4,983 | 0% | 29% | 17% |
| 0.8 | 1.1 | 1.45 | 1.61 | 0.73 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 43,507 | 38,110 | −1% | 5,258 | 0% | 43% | 20% |
| 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.46 | 1.62 | 0.71 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 43,421 | 37,467 | −1% | 5,871 | 0% | 43% | 20% |
| 0.9 | 0.8 | 1.32 | 1.50 | 0.81 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 47,159 | 38,861 | −1% | 5,492 | 0% | 29% | 18% |
| 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.32 | 1.51 | 0.80 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 47,159 | 38,819 | −1% | 5,492 | 0% | 29% | 19% |
| 0.9 | 1 | 1.32 | 1.51 | 0.78 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 47,159 | 38,472 | −1% | 5,821 | 0% | 43% | 20% |
| 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.32 | 1.52 | 0.77 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 47,116 | 37,683 | −1% | 6,517 | 0% | 43% | 20% |
| 0.9 | 1.2 | 1.35 | 1.55 | 0.75 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 46,894 | 37,120 | −1% | 6,925 | 0% | 57% | 23% |
| 1 | 0.8 | 1.22 | 1.43 | 0.86 | 88% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 49,090 | 39,787 | −1% | 5,397 | 0% | 29% | 19% |
| 1 | 0.9 | 1.22 | 1.44 | 0.85 | 88% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 49,090 | 39,559 | −1% | 5,672 | 0% | 29% | 20% |
| 1 | 1 | 1.22 | 1.45 | 0.84 | 88% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 49,090 | 38,276 | −1% | 6,647 | 0% | 43% | 20% |
| 1 | 1.1 | 1.25 | 1.47 | 0.81 | 88% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 48,915 | 37,113 | −1% | 7,127 | 0% | 43% | 21% |
| 1 | 1.2 | 1.28 | 1.51 | 0.78 | 96% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 48,333 | 37,054 | −1% | 7,255 | 0% | 57% | 24% |
| 1.1 | 0.8 | 1.13 | 1.38 | 0.92 | 67% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 50,000 | 40,855 | −1% | 5,170 | 0% | 29% | 20% |
| 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.14 | 1.40 | 0.90 | 67% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 50,000 | 39,902 | −1% | 5,896 | 0% | 29% | 20% |
| 1.1 | 1 | 1.15 | 1.41 | 0.87 | 75% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 50,000 | 38,527 | −1% | 6,795 | 0% | 43% | 20% |
| 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.19 | 1.44 | 0.83 | 81% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 49,939 | 37,055 | −1% | 7,122 | 0% | 43% | 20% |
| 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.25 | 1.47 | 0.81 | 88% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 48,959 | 37,122 | −1% | 7,248 | 0% | 43% | 22% |
| 1.2 | 0.8 | 1.06 | 1.34 | 0.96 | 54% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 50,000 | 42,213 | −1% | 4,820 | 0% | 29% | 20% |
| 1.2 | 0.9 | 1.07 | 1.36 | 0.92 | 58% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 50,000 | 41,046 | −1% | 6,003 | 0% | 29% | 20% |
| 1.2 | 1 | 1.11 | 1.38 | 0.89 | 67% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 50,000 | 39,263 | −1% | 6,644 | 0% | 43% | 20% |
| 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.15 | 1.42 | 0.86 | 75% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 50,000 | 38,069 | −1% | 6,938 | 0% | 43% | 20% |
| 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.21 | 1.45 | 0.82 | 83% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 49,665 | 37,086 | −1% | 7,234 | 0% | 43% | 21% |
| Scen | Ftgt | Bthr |
Status
|
Safety
|
Yield
|
Stability
|
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| minB | meanB | meanF | pGreen | pRed | pBlim | pBmsy | Csht | Cmed | Clon | Cc | Csd | pShw | pTX | maxTc | |||
| Cmax | 0.8 | 1 | 1.42 | 1.57 | 0.75 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 53,222 | 42,862 | 37,933 | −1% | 6,729 | 0% | 43% | 20% |
| Cmax | 1 | 1 | 1.11 | 1.37 | 0.88 | 58% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 59,064 | 50,817 | 35,175 | −1% | 10,696 | 0% | 71% | 25% |
| Cmax | 1.2 | 1 | 0.84 | 1.13 | 1.04 | 33% | 31% | 100% | 21% | 59,064 | 60,273 | 30,696 | −2% | 14,890 | 0% | 86% | 25% |
| R0 | 0.8 | 1 | 0.91 | 1.18 | 0.78 | 50% | 4% | 100% | 29% | 50,000 | 42,000 | 22,821 | −3% | 10,890 | 0% | 71% | 20% |
| R0 | 1 | 1 | 0.69 | 0.99 | 0.94 | 21% | 33% | 100% | 54% | 50,000 | 48,333 | 21,939 | −4% | 13,164 | 0% | 71% | 20% |
| R0 | 1.2 | 1 | 0.60 | 0.91 | 1.06 | 17% | 42% | 100% | 54% | 50,000 | 48,333 | 21,939 | −4% | 13,281 | 0% | 71% | 20% |
| sigma | 0.8 | 1 | 1.24 | 1.80 | 0.70 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 44,403 | 41,431 | −0% | 4,666 | 0% | 29% | 20% |
| sigma | 1 | 1 | 1.14 | 1.68 | 0.77 | 92% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 49,559 | 45,982 | −0% | 4,046 | 0% | 29% | 20% |
| sigma | 1.2 | 1 | 1.03 | 1.60 | 0.82 | 75% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 50,000 | 50,000 | 47,000 | −0% | 3,378 | 0% | 21% | 20% |
8 Glossary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| NALB | North Atlantic Albacore |
| OM | Operating model |
| CMP | Candidate management procedure |
| PM | Performance metric |
| ALBSG | Albacore Species Group |
| SS3 | Stock Synthesis 3 platform |
| ESS | Effective sample size |
| CAAL | Conditional age-at-length |
| M | Natural mortality |
| sigmaR | Variability in recruitment |
| h | Steepness in the stock-recruit function |
| OEM | Observation error model |
| HCR | Harvest control rule |
| TAC | Total Allowable Catch |