Abstract
Maximum sustainable yield (MSY) is the most important concept in fisheries resource management. MSY can be established based on the concept of the density-dependent effect. However, the concept that a density-dependent effect controls the fluctuation of the population living in the ocean is controversial. This paper discusses the validity of the density-dependent effect focusing on the stock-recruitment relationship (SRR). In many cases, the SRR shows a clockwise or ant-clockwise loop. If we try to explain the population fluctuations using the density-dependent effect, the clockwise or anti-clockwise loop observed in SRR cannot be explained. However, the mechanism proposed here can well reproduce the phenomena observed in many SRR including the clockwise or anti-clockwise loop. In other words, the most important relationship between stock and recruitment is likely to be the interspecific relationship and/or environmental conditions, not the density-dependent effect. If the density-dependent effect observed in SRR is not real, then the MSY theory is not valid, and all the management procedures based on MSY would also not be valid.
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