Analyses of the Fisheries Independent Monitoring Survey data of the rock lobster resource of South Africa to include the 2012/13 season

Analyses of FIMS data are updated to include data for the 2012/13 season. Results show a drop in the last season’s index for the FIMS relative abundance indices in the Dassen, Lambert’s Bay and Saldanha Bay Zones. Although the index for Saldanha Bay is lower than that of the previous season, it is still at a higher level than most indices for other seasons but there is a very large standard error associated with this estimate. There is a large increase for Cape Point, although this estimate has a large standard error. For Dassen Island this continues a fairly steady downward trend since 2002. The percentage of females in the last season has increased in all Zones