Download FAR 2026/18 Rapid update for New Zealand rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii) in CRA 3 in 2025

The red rock lobster supports the most valuable inshore commercial fishery in New Zealand. This fishery has been managed with catch quotas in nine Quota Management Areas (QMAs), which are usually treated as independent populations or stocks.

To estimate those quotas, each population is fully assessed every five years, requiring a lot of time and effort by a team of at least four to five researchers. Instead of a full assessment, a rapid update assessment can be done for some of the stocks that were not assessed in that year. A rapid update repeats the previous full assessment model, only updating data inputs, which significantly speeds up the process.

This document describes the operation of the stock assessment rapid update completed in 2025 for CRA 3 which can be used to guide management decisions.

For the beginning of the 2025–26 fishing year, the red rock lobster population in CRA 3 was estimated to be below sustainable levels and is projected to remain below reference levels in five years under current catch settings.