Summary
Long-term management targets based on MSY, Fmax or F0.1 are inappropriate for small pelagic fish because of the possibility of stock collapse owing to a stock-recruit relationship at low biomasses. Better reference points such as Fmed and Fhigh that take account of stock and recruit data cannot be used in developing fishery situations because they are too demanding of data. A simple model was fitted to medium-term (about 10 year) periods in exploited small pelagic fisheries, relating change in stock biomass to exploitation rate. Data from 28 stocks and 11 species were used. The fitted model was used to estimate likelihood of stock decrease at different exploitation rates. The pelagic stocks included in the model appeared to be in equilibrium for an exploitation rate F/Z=0.4, which may be used as a guideline for the appropriate exploitation of pelagic stocks.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alverson, D.L. and Pereyra, W.T. (1969) Demersal fish explorations in the northeastern Pacific Ocean—an evaluation of exploratory fishing methods and analytical approaches to stock size and yield forecasts. J. Fish. Res. Bd Can. 36, 1985–2001.
Anderson, E.D. and Paciorkowski, A.J. (1980) A review of the northwest Atlantic mackerel fishery. Rapp. P.-V. Réun. Cons. int. Explor. Mer 177, 175–211.
Anonymous (1983) Report of the working group on methods of fish stock assessment. ICES C.M. Assess. 17. 52 pp.
Anonymous (1988) Canadian Atlantic Fisheries Scientific Advisory Committee Annual Report, 1987. Nova Scotia, Canada: CAFASC Secretariat, Dept of Fisheries and Oceans. 373 pp.
Anonymous (1989a) Report of the working group on the assessment of pelagic stocks in division VIIIC and IXA and horse mackerel. ICES C.M. 1989/Assess. 19. 142 pp.
Anonymous (1989b) Report of the herring assessment working group for the area south of 62° N. ICES C.M. 1989/Assess. 19. 149 pp.
Anonymous (1989c) Report of the mackerel working group. ICES C.M. 1989/Assess. 11. 123 pp.
Anonymous (1989d) Report of the industrial fisheries working group. ICES C.M. 1989/Assess. 13. 127 pp.
Anonymous (1989e) Report of the blue whiting assessment working group. ICES C.M. 1989/Assess. 5. 69 pp.
Anonymous (1989f) Report of the Atlanto-Scandian herring and capelin working group. ICES C.M. 1989/Assess. 7. 167 pp.
Anonymous (1989g) Report of the working group on assessment of pelagic stocks in the Baltic. ICES C.M. 1989/Assess. 14. 254 pp.
Anonymous (1991) Report of the roundfish working group. ICES C.M. 1991/Assess. 4 267 pp.
Anthony, V.C. and Waring, G. (1980) The assessment and management of the Georges Bank herring fishery. Rapp. P.-V. Réun. Cons. int. Explor. Mer 177, 2–111.
Beeddington, J.R. and Cooke, J.G. (1983) The potential yield of fish stocks. FAO Fish. tech. Pap. 242. 47 pp.
Beddington, J.R. and May, R.M. (1977) Harvesting natural populations in a randomly fluctuating environment. Science 197, 463–5.
Beverton, R.J.H. and Holt, S.J. (1957) On the dynamics of exploited fish populations. Fish. Invest. MAFF U.K. 19 533 pp.
Butterworth, D.S. (1987) A suggested amendment to the harvesting strategy used at ICSEAF to specify hake TAC levels. Coll. scient. Pap. int. Commn SE Atl. Fish. 14 (1), 101–8.
Butterworth, D.S. and Andrew, P.A. (1984) Dynamic catch-effort models for the hake stocks in ICSEAF Divisions 1.3 to 2.2. Coll. scient. Pap. int. Commn S.E. Atl. Fish. 11 (1), 29–58.
Caddy, J.F. and Csirke, J. (1983) Approximation to sustainable yield for exploited and unexploited stocks. Oceanogr. Trop. 18, (10), 3–15.
Clark, C.W. (1976) Mathematical Bioeconomics: The Optimal Management of Renewable Resources. New York: Wiley-Interscience. 352 pp.
Dalzell, P. (1988) Small pelagic fisheries investigations in the Philippines. Part I: History of the fishery. Fishbyte 6 (2), 2–4.
Fox, W.W. (1970) An exponential surplus-yield model for optimising exploited fish populations. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 99, 80–88.
Goodyear, C.P. (1989) Spawning stock biomass per recruit: the biological basis for a 5 fisheries management tool. ICCAT working Doc. SCRS/89/82. 10 pp.
Gulland, J.A. (1970) The fish resources of the ocean. FAO Fish. tech. Pap. 97. 425 pp.
Gulland, J.A. (1977) Goals and objectives of fisheries management. FAO Fish. tech. Pap. 166. 14 pp.
Gulland, J.A. (1978) Fishery management: new strategies for new conditions. Tarns. Am. Fish. Soc. 107, 1–11.
Gulland, J. (1984) Advice on target fishing rates. Fishbyte 2 (1), 8–11.
Hilborn, R. and Walters, C.J. (1992) Quantitative Fisheries Stock Assessment: Choice, Dynamics and Uncertainty. New York: Chapman and Hall. 570 pp.
Jakobsson, J. (1980) Exploitation of the Icelandic spring- and summer-spawning herring in relation to fisheries management, 1947–1977. Rapp. P.-v. Réun. Cons. int. Explor. Mer 177, 23–42.
Larkin, P.A. (1977) An epitaph for the concept of maximum sustainable yield. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 106, 1–11.
Lluch-Belda, D., Crawford, R.J.M., Kawasaki, T., MacCall, A.D., Parrish, R.H., Schwartlose, R.A. and Smith, P.E. (1989) Worldwide fluctuations of sardine and anchovy stocks: the regime problem. S. Afr. J. mar. Sci. 8, 195–205.
MacCall, A.D. (1979) Population estimates for the waning years of the Pacific sardine fishery. Cal-COFI Rep. 20, 72–82.
Newman, G.G. and Crawford, R.J.M. (1980) Population biology and management of mixed-species pelagic stocks off South Africa. Rapp. P.-v. Réun. Cons. int. Explor. Mer 177, 279–91.
Parrish, R.H. and MacCall, A.D. (1978) Climatic variation and exploitation in the Pacific mackerel fishery. Fish Bull. Calif. Dep. Fish. Game 167. 107 pp.
Pella, J.J. and Tomlinson, P.K. (1969) A generalized stock production model. Inter-Am. Trop. Tuna Commn Bull. 13, 421–96.
Punt, A.E. (1991) Management procedures for Cape hake and baleen whale resources. PhD thesis, Univ Cape Town. 875 pp.
Ricker, W.E. (1973) Linear regressions in fisheries research. J. Fish. Res. Bd Can. 30, 409–34.
Saville, A. (ed.) (1980) The assessment and management of pelagic fish stocks. Rapp. P.-v. Réun Cons. int. Eplor. Mer 177, 1–535.
Schaefer, M.B. (1957) A study of the dynamics of populations important to the management of marine fisheries. Bull. of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission 1, 25–56.
Serebryakov, V.P. (1990) Prediction of year-class strength under uncertainties related to survival in early life history of some North Atlantic commercial fish. NAFO SCS Doc. 90/115, Serial No. N1851.
Shepherd, J.G. (1981) Cautious management of marine resources. Math. Biosci. 55, 179–87.
Shepherd, J.G. (1982) A family of general production curves for exploited populations. Math. Biosci. 59, 77–93.
Shepherd, J.G. (1987) Towards improved stock-production models. Working Paper No. 6. Submitted to June 1987 Meeting of ICES Working Group on Methods of Fish Stock Assessment. 16 pp, mimeo.
Sissenwine, M.P. and Cohen, E.B. (1991) Resource productivity and fisheries management of the Northeast shelf ecosystem. In Sharman, K., Alexander, L.M. and Gold, B.D., ed. Food Chains, Yields, Models and Management of Large Marine Ecosystems. Boulder, Co: Westview Press, pp. 107–24.
Sissenwine, M.P. and Shepherd, J.G. (1987) An alternative perspective on recruitment overfishing and the biological reference points. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 44, 913–18.
Sousa, M.I. (1988) Management issues on the Maputo Bay fisheries, Mozambique. Fishbyte 6 (3), 10–11.
Thompson, W.F. and Bell, F.H. (1934) Biological statistics of the Pacific halibut fishery. 2. Effect of changes in intensity upon total yield and yield per unit of gear. Rep. Int. Fish. (Pacific Halibut) Comm. 8. 49 pp.
Walters, C. (1986) Adaptive Management of Renewable Resources. New York: Macmillan. 374 pp.
Zalinge, N.P. van and Venema, S.C. (eds) (1987) Contributions to Tropical Fish Stock Assessment in India. Papers Prepared by the Participants at the FAO/DANIDA/ICAR National Follow-up Training Course in Fish Stock Assessment. Cochin, India, 2–28 November 1987. FAO, 157 pp.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Patterson, K. Fisheries for small pelagic species: an empirical approach to management targets. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries 2, 321–338 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00043521
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00043521