STAR Major Uncertainty and Recommendations #4: VAST results

[brianlangseth-NOAA]

From the 2015 report as an uncertainty

"Spatial treatment of the survey index resulted in indices that were very similar across areas. Further work is required to more clearly resolve differences in abundance trends among areas."

and as a recommendation

"Additional work on the geospatial index is required to better resolve differences in abundance trends among areas."

[brianlangseth-NOAA]

I believe @kellijohnson resolved these in how VAST handles the map for subareas. Previously all areas were included. Now, the areas are correctly divided.

• [ ] Check with Kelli to confirm if this was likely the culprit
• [ ] Check results of VAST to see if spatial patterns are still similar UPDATE: Kelli plans to run the coastwide index and then partition. Looking at and discussing these results can inform whether state specific indices are needed. Kelli makes good point that for surveys, dividing at state boundaries is not biologically justifiable, and doing so introduces boundary effects. Given that recruitment is a single relationship with allocation to different areas, doing something similar for the survey index makes sense.