Journal article
Accounting for cohort-specific variable growth in fisheries stock assessments: A case study from south-eastern Australia
AR Whitten, NL Klaer, GN Tuck, RW Day
Fisheries Research | Published : 2013
Abstract
Modern statistical fishery stock assessment models rarely account for temporal variability in mean length-at-age, and almost never describe cohort-specific effects. This study employs techniques for discerning temporal change to mean length-at-age from fisheries data and introduces recently developed stock assessment methods to account for this variability. Using Stock Synthesis, a statistical catch-at-age modelling framework, a stock assessment to account for cohort-specific variability in mean length-at-age was developed for blue grenadier, Macruronus novaezelandiae, an important commercial species in Australia's Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery. Key outputs of a standard s..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Andre Punt for initial development of the blue grenadier stock assessment models, and to Rick Methot and Gavin Fay for guidance and feedback relating to the use of Stock Synthesis and interpretation of its outputs. Additional members of the NOAA Stock Assessment team are thanked for useful discussions and input, particularly Ian Stewart and Ian Taylor. Members of the SESSF stock assessment team at CSIRO: M. Haddon, R. Little, R. Thomson, J. Upston, and J. Day, are also thanked for helpful comments and suggestions in the early stages of the study. Special thanks to Sally Wayte for providing a helpful review of the manuscript. The authors would also like to thank R.I.C.C. Francis and an additional anonymous reviewer for providing insightful and constructive reviews that improved the manuscript. Funding for AW was provided by an Australian Postgraduate Award and a CSIRO Postgraduate Studentship under the Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship.