Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons^™

Spatial Dynamics In Fisheries Stock Assessment, Yong Chen

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Most fisheries stock assessments assume that the spatial distribution of fish and/or fishing effort is random (Hilborn and Walters 1992), even though this is rarely the case (Paloheimo and Dickie 1964, Caddy 1975, Hilborn and Walters 1992, Tilzey 1994, Hutchings 1996, Chen et al. 1998, Hart 2001). The target stock is often aggregated and the distribution of fishing effort reflects this spatial pattern, along with other factors such as management restrictions, distance to port, vessel size, and the experience and habits of individual fishers. This often results in high spatial variation in fishing effort and mortality.

Ignoring this spatial variation …