A Surplus Yield Model Incorporating Recruitment and Applied to a Stock of Atlantic Mackerel (Scomber scombrus)

1978 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert G. Walter

A modification of Schaefer's surplus yield model that takes into account variations in year-class strength is introduced. Expressions for long-term equilibrium yield under assumptions of both linear and density-dependent recruitment are derived and compared. Strategies for exploitation under nonequilibrium conditions are discussed and equations derived. The model is fitted to a stock of mackerel and projections for the stock biomass in 1980 under various levels of fishing mortality are made. Key words: mathematical model, fisheries management, stock biomass projections

1987 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 913-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. P. Sissenwine ◽  
J. G. Shepherd

Biological reference points are used to guide fisheries management decisions. The reference points most often used are expressed in terms of fishing mortality rate (F). Fmsy relates to the maximization of sustainable yield. In principle, it is a most useful reference point, but in practice it is difficult to estimate. Fmax and F0.1 relate to certain levels of yield per recruit and are easily estimated, but they ignore conservation of the resource. Recruitment overfishing has usually been understood to occur when a population has been fished down to a point where recruitment is substantially reduced or fails. It has not been used as a basis for a biological reference point because the definition is vague and cannot be readily related to fishing mortality. Levels of spawning biomass below which recruitment seems to be reduced have been used, but their determination from available data is usually difficult and controversial. We propose an alternative definition of recruitment overfishing in terms of the level of fishing pressure that reduces the spawning biomass of a year class over its lifetime below the spawning biomass of its parents on average. Conventional models and types of data can be used to determine this level of F, denoted as Frep, which clearly relates to the replacement of spawning biomass and thus to sustainability of a population and yield in the long term.


2012 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rögnvaldur Hannesson

Abstract The sharing of the Northeast Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) stock is analysed as a game between four parties: the European Union, Norway, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland. Consideration is given to how the outcome depends on the nature of the stock's migrations. Two types of migrations are considered: (i) density-dependent, where the mackerel migrates into the Icelandic economic zone only if it exceeds 3.5 million t, and (ii) stochastic migrations, where the said migrations are stochastic. It is determined that the Faroe Islands would never accept a cooperative solution wherein they can only fish with the globally optimal fishing mortality within their own zone. This is also true for Iceland when the migrations into her zone are stochastic, but not if they are density-dependent. In the latter case, the other players have incentives to retaliate to Icelandic overfishing by fishing harder, which greatly reduces the number of years when mackerel are available in the Icelandic zone. It is assumed that the objective is maximization of the catch volume over a time-horizon of 50 years.


1977 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 1800-1811 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Kempinger ◽  
Robert F. Carline

Harvest and population dynamics of warmwater fish populations in Escanaba Lake have been under study since 1946, when complete creel census was initiated. Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) and yellow perch (Perca flavescens) were among the most important species in the sport catch. The purpose of this report is to describe dynamics of the walleye population from 1955 to 1972.Annual densities of age 3 and older walleye in spring ranged from 13 to 52/ha (mean = 34) and standing crops averaged 12.3 kg/ha. Annual densities of fall fingerlings appeared to be the most important factor influencing size of adult populations. We were unable to isolate factors that governed densities of fall fingerlings. Year-class strength was not affected by water temperatures during incubation nor by size of fall fingerlings. Growth rates of fingerling walleye were density-independent. Survival of fingerlings to age 3 averaged 12% annually; survival was not influenced by size of fingerlings nor by density of potential predators. We found no evidence to suggest that cannibalism had any effect on density of fingerlings or their survival to age 3. Total mortality of adult walleye averaged 47% annually and exploitation rate was 28%. Ricker's (1975) equilibrium yield model was used to assess possible effects of a size limit on walleye yields. We concluded that a size limit would lead to an increase in population biomass, a decrease in growth, and that yields would not change greatly. Key words: Percidae, population dynamics, Stizostedion, harvest, abundance, density, regulations, survival, production, equilibrium yield, biomass


2007 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 761-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel De Lara ◽  
Luc Doyen ◽  
Thérèse Guilbaud ◽  
Marie-Joëlle Rochet

Abstract De Lara, M., Doyen, L., Guilbaud, Th., and Rochet, M-J. 2007. Is a management framework based on spawning-stock biomass indicators sustainable? A viability approach. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64: 761–767: 000–000. Fisheries management agencies have to drive resources on sustainable paths, i.e. within defined boundaries for an indefinite time. The viable-control approach is proposed as a relevant method to deal with sustainability. We analyse the ICES precautionary approach (PA) by means of the notion of viability domain, and provide a mathematical test for sustainability. It is found that the PA based on spawning-stock biomass (SSB) and fishing mortality (F) indicators is sustainable only when recruits make a significant contribution to SSB. In this case, advice based upon SSB, with an appropriate reference point, is sufficient to ensure sustainability. In all other cases, SSB is not a sufficient metric of stock productivity and must be complemented with other management indicators to ensure sustainability. The approach is illustrated with numerical applications to the northern hake and Bay of Biscay anchovy.


2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (5) ◽  
pp. 848-859 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. John Simmonds ◽  
Andrew Campbell ◽  
Dankert Skagen ◽  
Beatriz A. Roel ◽  
Ciaran Kelly

Abstract Simmonds, E. J., Campbell, A., Skagen, D., Roel, B. A., and Kelly, C. 2011. Development of a stock–recruit model for simulating stock dynamics for uncertain situations: the example of Northeast Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus). – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 848–859. The assumption of a relationship between recruitment and a spawning stock is the cornerstone of the precautionary approach and may constrain the use of a maximum sustainable yield (MSY) target for fisheries management, because the failure to include such a relationship suggests that providing a measure of stock protection is unnecessary. The implications of fitting different functional forms and stochastic distributions to stock-and-recruit data are investigated. The importance of these considerations is shown by taking a practical example from management: the management plan for Northeast Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus), a fish stock with an average annual catch of 600 000 t. The historical range of spawning-stock biomass is narrow, and historical data from a stock assessment explain only a small proportion of the recruitment variability. We investigate how best to reflect the uncertainty in the stock–recruit relationship. Selecting a single model based on simple statistical criteria can have major consequences for advice and is problematic. Selecting a distribution of models with derived probabilities gives a more complete perception of uncertainty in dynamics. Differences in functional form, distribution of deviations, and variability of coefficients are allowed. The approach appropriately incorporates uncertainty in the stock–recruit relationship for FMSY estimation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (8) ◽  
pp. 2257-2268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Joachim Rätz ◽  
John Casey ◽  
Steven J. Holmes ◽  
Josep Lloret ◽  
Hendrik Dörner ◽  
...  

Abstract Under the 2013 Reform of the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), fisheries management aims to ensure that, within a reasonable time frame, the exploitation of marine biological resources restores and maintains populations of harvested stocks above levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield (MSY). The CFP also calls for the implementation of an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management (EBFM). In this paper, we present the concept of maximum sustainable dead biomass (MSDB) and its associated management reference points for fishing mortality and spawning-stock biomass as alternatives to those associated with MSY. The concept of MSDB is illustrated by a dynamic pool production model of a virtual fish stock which takes into account variations in natural mortality (M), fishing mortality (F), and exploitation pattern. Our approach implies a compensatory mechanism whereby survivors may benefit from compensatory density dependence and is implemented through progressive substitution of M with F for varying rates of total mortality (Z). We demonstrate that the reference points for fishing mortality and spawning-stock biomass associated with MSDB are less sensitive to increasing compensation of M with F than those associated with MSY and more sensitive to changes in selection pattern. MSDB-based reference points, which are consistent with maximum stock productivity, are also associated with lower fishing mortality rates and higher stock biomasses than their MSY-based counterparts. Given that selection pattern can be influenced through fishery input measures (e.g. technical gear measures, decisions on areas, and/or times of fishing), whereas variations of M in response to F are not controllable (indeed poorly understood), that the results of many fish stock assessments are imprecise, that maximum stock productivity corresponds to MSDB and that MSY-based reference points may best be considered as limits, we propose that MSDB-based reference points provide a more appropriate basis for management under an EBFM.


1993 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 1749-1756 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Overholtz

Previous research indicated that density dependence in population-level responses such as growth and predation mortality rate may play a major role in regulating the dynamics of the Northwest Atlantic stock of Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus). Simulation studies, utilizing this compensatory model of the mackerel stock, suggest that expected yields and spawning stock sizes under conditions of constant harvest rate or constant catch would be quite disparate. Yields and spawning stock size would be less variable and slightly larger under a constant catch strategy for catches of mackerel up to approximately 200 000 t. However, a constant harvest rate strategy would provide higher long-term yields and a more stable spawning stock at catches greater than 200 000 t. A comparison of a constant catch policy with F0.1, F20, and Fmax fishing strategies (constant F) suggests that the Fmax and F20 strategies would cause a long-term decline in the spawning stock below the current minimum spawning stock target and provide highly variable yields. A constant catch strategy could produce nearly the same level of yield with considerably less variability and maintain a larger mean spawning stock biomass than the F0.1 strategy.


2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 525-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Rindorf ◽  
Massimiliano Cardinale ◽  
Samuel Shephard ◽  
José A. A. De Oliveira ◽  
Einar Hjorleifsson ◽  
...  

Pretty good yield (PGY) is a sustainable fish yield corresponding to obtaining no less than a specified large percentage of the maximum sustainable yield (MSY). We investigated 19 European fish stocks to test the hypothesis that the 95% PGY yield range is inherently precautionary with respect to impairing recruitment. An FMSY range was calculated for each stock as the range of fishing mortalities (F) that lead to an average catch of at least 95% of MSY in long-term simulations. Further, a precautionary reference point for each stock (FP.05) was defined as the F resulting in a 5% probability of the spawning-stock biomass falling below an agreed biomass limit below which recruitment is impaired (Blim) in long-term simulations. For the majority of the stocks analysed, the upper bound of the FMSY range exceeded the estimated FP.05. However, larger fish species had higher precautionary limits to fishing mortality, and species with larger asymptotic length were less likely to have FMSY ranges impairing recruitment. Our study shows that fishing at FMSY generally is precautionary with respect to impairing recruitment for highly exploited teleost species in northern European waters, whereas the upper part of the range providing 95% of MSY is not necessarily precautionary for small- and medium-sized teleosts.


Author(s):  
Carl Jakob Rørvik ◽  
Bjarte Bogstad ◽  
Geir Ottersen ◽  
Olav Sigurd Kjesbu

This investigation commenced by constructing principal maturation schedule equations as a function of fishing mortality (F), key biophysical factors and a term attributed to fisheries-induced adaptive change (FIAC). Following the onset of industrial trawl fishery on the model stock, Northeast Arctic cod (NEAC) (1934-2020), F on immature age groups 5-8 years (F5-8) increased and mean age at 50% maturity (A50) decreased from ≈10 years in the late 1940s to ≈7 years today. Large annual fluctuations in total stock biomass (TSB), sea temperature (KolaT) and F5-8 were used to better understand A50 responses. In the model, the annual accumulation of F5-8 drives FIAC. The model includes the option that NEAC may sustain F5 8 up to a certain level (F_bal) before FIAC becomes statistically evident, with F_bal falling between 0.00 and 0.40 for A50. This dynamic range in F_bal indicates a sophisticated, underlying adaptive response. Independent of F_bal, our analysis clarifies that FIAC is necessary to explain the observed changes in A50.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kohma Arai ◽  
Martin Castonguay ◽  
David H. Secor

AbstractThe Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) in the Northwest Atlantic is comprised of northern and southern components that have distinct spawning sites off Canada (northern contingent) and the US (southern contingent), and seasonally overlap in US fished regions. Thus, assessment and management of this population can be sensitive to levels of mixing between contingents, which remain unknown. Multi-decadal trends in contingent mixing levels within the US fisheries region were assessed, and the contingent composition across seasons, locations, ages, and size classes were characterized using archived otoliths and developing a classification baseline based on juvenile otolith carbon and oxygen stable isotopes (δ13C/δ18O values). Classification of age ≥ 2 adults demonstrated that northern contingent mixing was prevalent within the US continental shelf waters during the past 2 decades (2000–2019), providing an important seasonal subsidy to the US winter fishery despite substantial depletion in spawning stock biomass of the dominant northern contingent. While the majority of older fish were of the northern contingent during the early 2000s, the southern contingent contribution increased with age/size class during the recent period (2013–2019). Spatial mixing was most prevalent during February and March when the northern contingent occurred as far south as the Delmarva Peninsula, but were mostly absent from US waters in May. A positive relationship (albeit not significant; r = 0.60, p = 0.07) occurred between northern contingent mixing and US fisheries landings, which could imply that higher contingent mixing levels might be associated with greater landings for the US winter mackerel fishery. The yield of the Northwest Atlantic mackerel depends upon the status of the northern contingent, with the southern contingent possibly more prone to depletion. Spatially explicit stock assessment models are recommended to conserve both productivity and stability in this two-component population.


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