Western Pacific Stock Assessment Review of the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment for Main Hawaiian Islands Kona Crab

The Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center conducted a draft 2018 benchmark stock assessment for main Hawaiian Islands Kona crab (Ranina ranina). The assessment provides the basis for management of this culturally important species. Previously, non-NOAA scientists conducted stock assessments for Kona crab in 1978 and, in collaboration with PIFSC scientists, in 2010–2011. The draft 2018 benchmark assessment incorporates data from 1948 through 2016 and uses a production model, incorporating improvements to data standardization and model assumptions. Specifically, catch per unit effort (CPUE) in the model includes new standardization coefficients split into two time series (1948–2005 and 2006–2016), due to passage of Hawaii state law prohibiting the taking of female Kona crab in 2006. The assessment model accounts for unreported catch by evaluating the use of published estimates of non-reporting ratios estimated for other fisheries in the main Hawaiian Islands, and by incorporating estimates of fishing effort specific to crustaceans from ancillary surveys. Stock status is evaluated against Maximum Sustainable Yield-based reference points set in the Fishery Ecosystem Plan for the Hawaii Archipelago. Projections are provided to inform management setting of annual catch limits.

NOAA Fisheries and the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council rescheduled the review of the draft 2018 benchmark stock assessment for main Hawaiian Islands Kona crab. The meeting announced in the Federal Register on June 5, 2018, was corrected and rescheduled in the Federal Register for September 10–14, 2018.

Learn more about the WPSAR process