Fishing and natural mortality rates and tag reporting rate for rock lobsters (Jasus edwardsii) in northwest Tasmania, Australia, were estimated using multiyear tagging models. These estimates are necessary for assessment of the resource. Several models were examined that had either two or three tagging events each year, and either combined sexes or kept sexes separate. The model that best described the dynamics of the fishery utilized three tagging events within a year. The year was divided into discrete periods and, within each year, fishing effort and duration of period were used to apportion fishing and natural mortalities, respectively, to the periods. The separation of fishing mortalities by sex was not found to improve the models. Although high (1.0-1.2·year-1), the instantaneous fishing mortality estimates were comparable to estimates obtained from other methods and the relative standard errors were low. Reporting rate estimates were also precise and indicated a lack of participation by the fishing industry. Estimates of natural mortality were low (0.00-0.02·year-1) but imprecise.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences
Research Group:	Fisheries sciences
Research Field:	Aquaculture and fisheries stock assessment
Objective Division:	Animal Production and Animal Primary Products
Objective Group:	Fisheries - wild caught
Objective Field:	Fisheries - wild caught not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Frusher, SD (Professor Stewart Frusher)
ID Code:	23297
Year Published:	2001
Web of Science® Times Cited:	32
Deposited By:	TAFI - Marine Research Laboratory
Deposited On:	2001-08-01
Last Modified:	2011-09-27
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