Designing tools to evaluate fishery management strategies: can the scientific community deliver?

Abstract

AbstractSchnute, J. T., Maunder, M. N., and Ianelli, J. N. 2007. Designing tools to evaluate fishery management strategies: can the scientific community deliver? – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64: 1077–1084. Techniques for quantitative fishery management have evolved rapidly during a period when computers, programming languages, and computational algorithms have also changed dramatically. Despite these advances, many stock assessment methods remain untested. A process of management strategy evaluation (MSE) could potentially rectify this problem, but it would require a framework in which to conduct systematic tests. We survey the tools currently used for stock assessments and discuss the development of new standards for testing management procedures. A successful project would depend on human skills scattered among various nations, organizations, and academic disciplines. Analogies from civil engineering illustrate the discipline and collaboration required for an effective outcome. If the world community of fishery scientists could design, build, and support such a project, it would revolutionize the theory, teaching, and practice of scientific fishery management.