[STAR Panel Rec.] Recruitment variability by stock area

[chantelwetzel-noaa]

The 2021 STAR panel recommended stock-specific exploration of recruitment variability as a medium priority for the next assessment:

"Although earlier models estimated separate sigma R (standard deviation of recruitments off of the spawner-recruit curve) for northern and southern models (0.75 in south, 0.5 in north), this assessment used the same value (0.6) for both models. However, sensitivities suggested that recruitment variability may be greater in the south rather than the north, which would be consistent with some general patterns of recruitment variability in other stocks. This should be re-evaluated in future assessments."

This assessment should consider tuning sigma R within each model area separately, depending on the data.