Abundance Estimates for Hake – Nansen vs Africana

Hake OMP-2010 (will soon be revised and replaced by OMP-2014) uses the abundance estimates for hake from the January (Summer) and April (Autumn) surveys, in addition to the commercial catch & effort data, to calculate the recommended TAC for the upcoming year. No April surveys have been completed since 2011 and the January 2013 survey was completed on the FV Andromeda, as the RV Africana was not operational. This document will present comparisons of the abundance estimates calculated from the RV Africana with the RV Dr Fridtjof Nansen as a starting point for assessing how to incorporate the survey results collected on the FV Andromeda into the time series required for the OMP.