Initial Applications of Statistical Catch-at-Age Assessment Methodology to the Greenland Halibut Resource

Statistical Catch-at-Age (SCAA) assessment methodology is applied to the Greenland halibut resource, with full algebraic specifications of the approach provided in an Appendix. Results are reported for a baseline run and eight sensitivities. These are all duplicated given that the estimates of historical biomass are very sensitive to whether or not the commercial catch-at-age data for the first two years are included in fitting the assessment model. In most cases current biomasses are estimated to be above BMSY and increasing, with MSY estimates typically close to 25000t.