Updated assessment of the South African sardine resource using data from 1984‐2020

A quantitative assessment of the South African sardine resource has been updated to include data from 1984 to 2020. This two mixing‐component hypothesis assumes no stock recruitment relationship during conditioning. The west component abundance remains at a low level, but the spawner biomass is estimated to be higher than that estimated a year ago. These results have shown that the model is sensitive to the inclusion of parasite prevalenceat‐length data and further investigation into the most appropriate manner with which these data should be included in the model is warranted. Further sensitivity testing and the consideration of alternative hypotheses is required before a ‘baseline’ assessment can be selected.