Porcupine Bank Nephrops Grounds (FU16) 2012 UWTV Survey Report and catch options for 2013

Abstract

This report provides the results of the first underwater television on the ‘Porcupine Bank Nephrops grounds’ ICES assessment area; Functional Unit 16. The survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV, CTD and other ecosystem data. The UWTV results and a scientific basis for survey based catch advice in 2013 are presented. In total 47 UWTV stations were successfully completed. The mean burrow density was 0.19 burrows/m² (empirical 95% confidence intervals are from 0.17-0.21). The final krigged abundance estimate was 992 million burrows with a relative standard error of 5% and an estimated stock area of 7,100km2. This abundance estimate can be considered as a conservative estimate given that the spatial coverage of the southern part of the ground was not complete. A correction factor of 1.26 is proposed based on expert judgments of burrow size and potential detection and identification biases. A yield and spawner per recruit analysis was used to estimate a harvest rate of 5.0% for the combined sex F0.1 and other F reference points. This harvest rate is low compared to other FUs and can be considered very conservative. Applying this harvest rate to the abundance observed in the survey and using a mean weight in the landings of 45.0g implies landings in 2013 of 1,770 t. The results here could form the basis of the catch advice for 2013.