Stock Assessment

Stock assessments are undertaken to check that stocks are being fished sustainably, both biologically and economically.  From a biological point of view, stock assessments generally address two questions about a fish stock:

  1. Is the size of the fish stock (for example the biomass) above a level that is considered overfished?
  2. Will the current levels of fishing cause the stock to become overfished?

Stock assessment methods are many and varied and the type of method used largely depends on the amount and type of data available. The amount of data available for a species (or stock) is often related to the value of that stock and the risk posed to it by the fishery. The more quality data available, the more complex the stock assessment can be, and the more confidence you can have in its results.  The results of stock assessments are used in harvest strategies to compare indicators against target reference points (the point you want the fishery to be) and limit reference points (the point at which the risk to the stock is too high).

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