Estimation of Effective Effort from Catch-at-Age Data
We present a method for estimating effective efforts or fishing mortality rates based on a linearized version of the catch equation. Catch-at-age for at least two age groups over a series of years is required. The method presupposes a value for natural mortality rate (M). The method is validated using simulated data with an appropriate error structure. The algorithm always converges to a set of effective efforts that are compatible with the known catches. Nevertheless, the solution to the basic equations is not unique although the different solutions are typically highly correlated. If the M assumed by the algorithm is the same as the actual M the iterated effective efforts are typically very close to the true effective efforts or fishing mortality rates. If the assumed M is too high or too low the pattern of effective efforts is still recovered to a high degree of accuracy, typically 0.90 < r < 1.00, even though M may be off by as much as 60%. When data for three or more age groups are available the method is extended to at least squares procedure that takes into account the increasing uncertainty of catches with age.