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9 - Current trends in the assessment and management of stocks
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- By Manuel Barange, Miguel Bernal, Maria Cristina Cergole, Luis A. Cubillos, Georgi M. Daskalov, Carryn L. de Moor, José A. A. De Oliveira, Mark Dickey-Collas, Dave J. Gaughan, Kevin Hill, Larry D. Jacobson, Fritz W. Köster, Jacques Massé, Miguel Ñiquen, Hiroshi Nishida, Yoshioki Oozeki, Isabel Palomera, Suzana A. Saccardo, Alberto Santojanni, Rodolfo Serra, Stylianos Somarakis, Yorgos Stratoudakis, Andres Uriarte, Carl D. van der Lingen, Akihiko Yatsu
- Edited by Dave Checkley, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, Jürgen Alheit, Yoshioki Oozeki, Claude Roy
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- Book:
- Climate Change and Small Pelagic Fish
- Published online:
- 08 January 2010
- Print publication:
- 20 August 2009, pp 191-255
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Summary
Summary
The assessment and management of small pelagic fish (SPF) stocks is particularly difficult and uncertain because their short life expectancy, characteristic aggregative behavior, rapid response to climate and environmental signals and large and variable natural mortality make them less tractable through traditional population dynamic models and assumptions. In this review we summarize the assessment and management approaches applied in 29 SPF stocks or management units (12 anchovy, 10 sardine, 4 herring, and 3 sprat). The review demonstrates that the assessment and management of SPF varies substantially in its approach and performance between stocks and regions. Most stocks have a scientific assessment program in place and a management approach that generally takes into account assessment results, but in some stocks management practices deviate substantially from scientific advice and in some, assessment and management processes are largely disconnected. It is concluded that only properly tailored scientific assessment and management programs can provide the speed of response and the flexibility of management that highly variable SPF demand. The most effective monitoring programs are based on fishery-independent surveys (daily egg production or/and hydroacoustics), while analyses based on catch per unit effort offer limited value. Most assessments, defined as what management uses to base its decisions on, rely on catch-at-age or yield per recruit models. Harvest strategies range from those driven by harvest control rules to those derived from outputs of best assessment runs. Some stocks use operating models based on age–structure model outputs or forward VPA. On the issue of scientific uncertainty some practitioners propose reducing it through additional science and measures, while others promote the development of management procedures robust to uncertainty.
3 - Habitats
- Edited by Dave Checkley, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, Jürgen Alheit, Yoshioki Oozeki, Claude Roy
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- Book:
- Climate Change and Small Pelagic Fish
- Published online:
- 08 January 2010
- Print publication:
- 20 August 2009, pp 12-44
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Summary
Summary
The habitats of populations of small, pelagic fish, especially anchovy and sardine, in the Benguela, California, Humboldt, and Kuroshio-Oyashio current systems, and in the NE Atlantic, are described and discussed in regard to future climate change. These stocks have been the primary concern of the Small Pelagic Fish and Climate Change (SPACC) program of International GLOBEC. Each of these regions and stocks has a unique set of climate and ocean conditions and their variability. However, they also share common characteristics. Spawning and development occurs within broad ranges of temperature (12–26 °C) and salinity (<30–36) and in regions of high plankton production, associated with either upwelling or freshwater. Often, sardine are more oceanic and anchovy more coastal, often associated with wind-driven upwelling and rivers. Sardine tend to make longer migrations between spawning and feeding regions than do anchovy. The habitat of most populations of small, pelagic fish expands when the population size is large and contracts when it is small, often into refugia. Climate change may affect populations of small, pelagic fish by causing poleward shifts in distribution due to warming, some of which have already occurred. Other potential effects are due to changes in winds, hydrology, currents, stratification, acidification, and phenology.
Introduction
Small, pelagic fish, especially anchovy and sardine, abound in many, productive regions of the world ocean. Their habitats include areas with coastal and oceanic upwelling and freshwater influence and can be characterized by both geography (properties of the coast and bottom) and hydrography (properties of the water). The effects of climate change, be it of natural or anthropogenic origin, on populations of small, pelagic fish, are mediated by their habitats.
Fish bycatch and discarding in Nephrops trawlers in the Firth of Clyde (west of Scotland)
- Yorgos Stratoudakis, Robert J. Fryer, Robin M. Cook, Graham J. Pierce, Ken A. Coull
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- Journal:
- Aquatic Living Resources / Volume 14 / Issue 5 / September 2001
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 15 September 2001, pp. 283-291
- Print publication:
- September 2001
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Nephrops norvegicus (Norway lobster or prawn) is an important target species in demersal fisheries of the north-east Atlantic. Trawling for Nephrops is wasteful when many small fish are caught and discarded in the process. Here, data from 106 commercial fishing trips, sampled between 1982 and 1998 as part of the Scottish discard sampling programme, are used to investigate the fish bycatch and discards of Nephrops trawlers in the Firth of Clyde (west of Scotland). A large proportion of the fish caught in the Clyde is discarded, the discards mainly consisting of small demersal fish (mean length about 19 cm), particularly young whiting (Merlangius merlangus). Within the study period, annual estimates of total fish discards ranged from 318 to 3027 tonnes, with a mean of 1761 tonnes. Fish landings and discards biomass per unit effort both decreased over the study period. However, the decline in landings per unit effort was greater than that in discards per unit effort, corresponding to an increase in the discard rate over time. In recent years, discards have comprised about 70 % of the fish bycatch. The mean length of discarded fish was positively related to mesh size.