FISH 412 - FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

1.0 Module Title: Chapter 6 RESOURCE ASSESSMENT

2.0 INTRODUCTION

Fisheries biologists contribute to fisheries science in two main areas; first, by

studying the basic biology and distribution of resource species, and second, by studying
the population dynamics of the species. In order to discuss population dynamics, it is
instructive to consider a fish population or stock as a simple biological system. The
forces acting on a fish stock and controlling its number are shown in Figure 3.1. The
number of fish is being increased by the reproduction of adult fish, which eventually
results in small fish being added, or recruited, into the stock. In addition, the weight, or
biomass, of the fish stock is increased by the growth of individuals. In the figure, three
consecutive age groups, or year classes, are shown.
Concurrently with these increases, the stock is being reduced in numbers and
biomass by natural mortality and, in exploited species, by fishing mortality as well.
Fishing mortality refers to fish caught by fishers, and natural mortality refers to fish
which die by other means, most commonly, by predation, diseases, calamity, etc.
In a species which is unexploited or fished at a low level, losses due to mortality
are balanced, on the average, by gains through recruitment, and stock abundance will
fluctuate around a mean level. If exploitation is high, the number of adult fish may be
reduced to a level where reproduction is unable to replace the numbers lost. In terms
of Figure 3.1, if the number of fish caught becomes too large, recruitment will be too
small to maintain the stock size and the number of fish will decrease.

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The stock sizes of many exploited species are at dangerously low levels. The
Antarctic baleen whale, the Peruvian anchovy, the North Sea herring and mackerel, and
the Australian southern school shark have all been dramatically overexploited. In the
southern shark fishery, the stock is believed to be at only 15 percent of its unexploited
(pre-war) level, and fishing would have to be stopped for many years for the stock to
recover fully. In severe cases of overfishing, a particularly vulnerable species may even
become extinct. Some species of giant clams, for example, have now disappeared from
several countries.
A major task of a fisheries biologist is to estimate the population parameters
implied in Figure 3.1, namely stock abundance, growth, recruitment and mortality. The
system is dynamic, however, and values of these parameters may fluctuate widely,
even in the absence of fishing. The population parameters of a fish stock may be
estimated from different types of data, including the number of fish at different lengths
(length – frequency data) and catch rates (catch per unit effort). These data may be
collected from fishing vessels and fish processors (fishery – dependent data), and from
the activities of fisheries researchers, in some cases working from a fisheries research
vessel (fishery – independent data). A selection of methods of using these data to
estimate fish stock parameters is given in the following sub-sections.

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B. OBJECTIVES
At the end of the chapter, students should be able to:
o Define the different methods in assessing stocks particularly its distribution
and abundances
o Give an example of problem-solving computation on different types of stock
assessment methods.;

C. LEARNING CONTENT
A. Distribution and abundance

Distribution and Abundance

Distribution-the unit stock
All marine species have geographic limits to their distributions. The distribution
of the cod Gadus morhua, for example, is restricted to the North Atlantic (Figure 3.2),
and within this relatively large geographic range the cod exists in smaller, more or less
isolated, sub-populations or races. In such cases, fishing on one sub-population appears
to have no effect on others.

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Fisheries studies are usually based on small groups, each of which may be referred to
as a unit stock. A unit stock is a discrete group of individuals which has the same gene
pool, is self-perpetuating, and has little connection with adjacent groups. Although this
definition may not satisfy biogeographers (an even less biologically dependent definition
is given by Ricker 1975), it does describe a unit which, but has similar biological
characteristics, may be studied, assessed and managed as a discrete entity.
The boundaries of a unit stock, however, are often difficult to determine, and
many relatively isolated populations may receive new recruits from other distant,
reproducing populations. Even in stocks of fish on isolated reefs, the ability of larvae to
drift and survive for a considerable time in the plankton allows them to reach other
reefs some distance away. The snapper Lutjanus kasmira, for example, which was
deliberately introduced into Hawaii, spread throughout all the reefs and islands of the
archipelago within a period of ten years (Oda & Parrish 1981).
In fact, many species in which the adults are non-migratory are found in areas
which are separated by great distances. Deep-water snappers, for example, are found
(and are the basis of locally important fisheries) on widely-separated islands and sea
mounts across the whole of the Indo-Pacific. On the other hand, some species with very
short larval phases and which live in isolated areas must be self-sustaining in terms of
recruitment.
From a fisheries assessment and management viewpoint, it is important to
determine whether adjacent stocks are either sufficiently interactive to be regarded as a
single unit stock, or independent enough to be regarded as separate unit stocks. In
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most cases, several criteria are used to confirm or refute a stock’s unit status. The
panaeid prawn Panaeus latisulcatus, for example, is caught by trawlers in two adjacent
gulfs. As each gulf contains mature individuals, and has coastal mangrove areas where
juveniles are found, the stock in each gulf has the means for independent self-
perpetuation. In addition, tagging studies have not revealed any migration of prawns
between the two gulfs. Hence the stocks in each of the two gulfs are regarded as two
separate unit stocks for study and management purposes.

Within a unit stock, individuals have different types of spacing (Figure 3.4). A uniform
or even distribution rarely occurs in nature, mainly because the environment is rarely
uniform. Even if the environment is relatively even, such as on a sandy sea floor, the
distribution of sedentary species may be non-uniform as a result of the uneven
settlement of larvae from the plankton. However, a uniform distribution may be
approximated in species where there is intense competition, territoriality or aggression
between individuals. Territorial reef fish, for example, often exclude others of the same
species from areas around a home base on the reef. Random distributions are also
likely to be rare in nature, if only because the aspects of the environment on which the
species depend are not randomly distributed.

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Although widely spaced individuals may avoid intra-specific competition, this is often at
the expense of advantages which may accrue to those living in aggregations, groups or
schools, the most common type of distribution. The advantages of living in groups may
include better access to sexual partners in the case of mating species, an increase
ability to locate food, and a degree of protection from predators. For example, among
aggregating sea urchins, fertilization success is high, the trapping of drift algae for food
is enhanced, and spine canopy of the aggregation is a formidable deterrent to
predators. The distribution of individuals is likely to be influenced by differences or
gradients in the environment; in all marine organisms a differential distribution with
depth to be expected and most species occur in maximum numbers over a relatively
narrow optimum depth range.
In fisheries studies, the estimation of stock abundance is often important as a
means of estimating other population parameters such as survival and yield. In some
cases, estimates of absolute abundance (the total number of individuals) are required.
In many situations, however, it is sufficient to obtain estimates of relative abundance
(the number of individuals in one area in relation to the numbers present in another
area, or in the same area at another time).

Relative abundance

The most commonly used index of relative abundance in fisheries studies is catch per
unit effort. Catch (C) and fishing effort (f) data are usually collected in all managed
fisheries and in fisheries surveys. Catch per unit effort ( C/f or CPUE) may be recorded in
many ways; for example, as the number or weight of fish caught per hook per hour, of
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lobsters caught per trap per day, of or demersal fish caught per hour of trawling. Within
a particular fishery, fishing effort may be measured in units of increasing refinement. In
a gill net fishery, for example, a gross measure of effort is the number of fishers using
gill nets, in which case CPUE would be recorded as kg per fisher. If the number of days
fished was also known, a more precise measure of CPUE would be kg per day. Ideally,
the length of the gill nets used would also be known, and CPUE could be recorded in
units such as kg per 100m of net per day.
If a fisher catches 20 fish per hour in one area and 40 fish per hour in a second
area, the inference is that there are twice as many fish in the second area. How
reasonable this inference is depends on the fisher having used the same skills and the
same kind of fishing gear in both areas; it also depends on the fish being randomly
distributed and equally vulnerable to the fishing gear in both places. If all these
conditions are met, one unit of fishing effort will catch a constant proportion (referred
to as the catchability coefficient ( q) ) of a total homogenous stock. This suggests that
the relationship of CPUE to the total stock abundance ( N) is linear:

CPUE = q N (3.1)

where q is the catchability coefficient (and the slope of the relationship).

Equation (3.1) assumes that there is a direct relationship between CPUE and
abundance, which may not always be so (see Depletion methods, below). In most
cases the value of q is not known and therefore absolute abundance cannot be
estimated from the index. This defect is not important if information on abundance is
required in relative terms. That is, if the questions to be answered are whether the
relative abundance of fish on ground A is different from that on ground B or whether
the relative abundance of fish in one month is different from that of the previous
month. It should be noted, however, that in many cases the catchability of a species is
not constant, and many vary in in response to behavioral changes associated with the
time of day, the lunar monthly cycle and the season of the year. If fishing is conducted
over the total area of a fish stock and over a range of depths, CPUE data may be used
as indices of abundance to suggest a species distribution by depth and area. Figure 3.5
shows the depth distribution of pandalid shrimps using catch per trap per night as an
index, and Figure 3.6 shows the distribution of mackerel ( Scomber scombrus) eggs
using the number of eggs per m² per day caught in towed sampling nets as index.
Some fishery-independent CPUE data are collected during surveys by fisheries
research vessels, and are therefore expensive to acquire. Such surveys may produce
data from a wider geographical area of the stock’s distribution than data from the
commercial fishery, in which effort is often concentrated on a small part of the stock at
a given time. As long as standard gear is used, the data are likely to provide good

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estimates of abundance over time and area. However, the variability between CPUEs is
often large because the samples (catches) represent a small fraction of the total stock.

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Fishery-dependent data, collected from commercial fishing operations, is the more

commonly used catch and effort data. This is relatively cheap and comprehensive way
of collecting information, and ensures that samples of the population are relatively
large, with lower variability. In commercial fisheries, catch, effort and fishing area data
may be collected by requiring fishers to enter this information in a log book. In many
licensed fisheries, the completion and submission of fishing logs is a legal requirement
of participation in the fishery (see [5.6]).
The basic principle of using CPUE data is that changes is CPUE accurately reflect
changes in the abundance of fish in the stock. However, there are many circumstances
in which measures of CPUE are poor indices of stock abundance. Most of the problems
in using CPUE data relate to the differences between the way fishing effort is measured
(recorded or ‘apparent’ effort), and the way in which actual, or ‘effective’, effort is
actually changing. If fishing becomes more effective, even though apparent effort
remains the same, recorded catch rates will show an increase even though the
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abundance of fish in the stock may be decreasing. In other words, effective effort may
change even though apparent effort does not, and CPUEs based on apparent effort may
be poor indices of abundance (see [5.6]).

Absolute abundance

Absolute abundance refers to the actual number of individuals in an area or total fish
stock. In a very few cases, such as the counting of salmon climbing fish ladders over
weirs as they return up rivers to spawn, is it possible to count every individual in a
population. In most cases, it is necessary to estimate absolute abundance by counting
the numbers in small samples taken from the total stock, or by using other techniques
such as tagging experiments, and by depletion, deliberately overfishing a small part of a
fish stock.

Partial counts

The most direct way of estimating absolute abundance is by counting the number of
individuals in small parts (or sampling units) of the whole population. In the distribution
of sea cucumbers suggested in Figure 3.7, estimates of absolute abundance may be
obtained by counting individuals in a number of sampling units. If sampling was carried
out by divers operating from a small boat, the boat could be anchored at randomly
selected locations within the stock area, and the divers could collect all sea cucumbers
within a 20m radius of the anchor. In this case, a diver collecting sea cucumbers
represents the sampling method, the random sampling is the ‘sampling design’, and the
20m radius circle is the ‘sampling unit’.
Random sampling requires that each sample unit in the stock has an equal
probability of being chosen, and random number tables (Appendix C) may be used to
determine the position of the sampling units. In practice, biologists often use less time-
consuming ways of choosing the location of sampling units, such as throwing a frame
(a metal rod in the form of a square or a circle) into the sampling area without looking;
in the case of the sea cucumber example, the equivalent is throwing the anchor over at
haphazardly chosen locations over the stock area. Such methods are not strictly
random, and may result in marginal areas being under-sampled, if the divers avoided
sampling near the outer limits of the stock area, for example.
Simple random sampling as described above would provide precise estimates only
if the individuals in the stock were distributed randomly. Where individuals are
distributed differentially with depth (as they appear to be in Figure 3.7), sampling along
a line (or a transect) at right angles to the depth contours represents a better option. In
the sea cucumber example, this could be done by using the centre of the shallow bank

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as a base point, and using random number tables to select a compass course (a
transect) along which the samples are taken. The boat moving along this transect could
be stopped and anchored at regular intervals, and the sea cucumbers counted within
the circle with the anchor at its centre. Sampling at regular intervals (at a set distance
apart, or at regular depth intervals) is an example of systematic sampling, and is
advantageous when a secondary aim of the survey is to map the species’ distribution.
Its disadvantage is that the usual formula for variance does not strictly apply. However,
as the transect was randomly chosen, the survey should provide an unbiased estimate
in which the variance is approximated by the usual formula for random samples as in
the procedure given below.

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For the purposes of the example, it is assumed that an east – west transect has been
randomly selected. In Figure 3.7, the sampling units are square quadrats rather than
circular, and counting the numbers of sea cucumbers in each second quadrat along a

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transect from 6A, 6C, 6E, 6G, 6I, 6K, to 6M (a total of seven quadrats) gives the results
shown in Table 3.1.

The mean number of sea cucumbers per quadrat, x̄ , is calculated by the sum (indicated
by ∑) of the number of individuals in each quadrat (xᵢ) from 1 to n, divided by n (n is
the number of quadrats sampled; in this case, n = 7). This is usually written as:

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The sample standard deviation (s) is s = √s² = 4.16. If greater than about 10
percent of the stock had been sampled, the variance would have to be multiplied by the
finite population correction factor, √[1 ̶ a/A], which approximates unity if a/A is small.
The means of a large number of samples drawn randomly from the same
population are normally distributed, and the ‘mean of the means’ is the mean of the
population. The standard deviation of sample means (referred to as the standard error
of the mean, se) is calculated as the sample standard deviation divided by the square
root of the number of observations:

se = s/√n (3.4)

The standard error of the mean (se = 1.57, in the example) suggests how well the
sample mean, x̄ , estimates the population mean. As 68 percent of all values lie between
the limits of plus or minus one standard error of the mean, there is 68 percent
confidence that the population mean lies within these limits. As 68 percent is a low level
of confidence, it is more usual to use 95 percent confidence limits in biological work. In
this case, there is a probability of 0.95 that the population mean lies between plus or

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minus 1.96 s√n of the sample mean. That is, the 95 percent confidence interval is
estimated as:

x̄ ± t * se (3.5)

where the value of t is equal to 1.96 when there is a large number of observations.
When the number of observations is small (say n < 30), there is less chance that the
sample standard deviation is a reliable estimate of the population standard deviation,
and the value of t for n ̶ 1 degrees of freedom must be read from statistical tables
(Appendix C). In the sea cucumber example, t = 2.45 for six degrees of freedom, the
standard error is 1.57 and the 95 percent confidence limits are:

8.43 ± 2.45 * 1.57 = 8.43 ± 3.85

Thus there is 95 percent confidence (or probability) that the mean number per sampling
unit in the population from which the sample is drawn lies between a lower limit of 4.58
and an upper limit of 12. 28. Likewise, multiplying these limits by the proportion of the
total area to the sampling unit area ( A/a), there is 95 percent confidence that the stock
size lies between 714 and 1916 sea cucumbers. Note that in the case of highly
contagious or aggregated populations, in which the variance of a small sample is much
larger than the mean, the observations may be transformed (by applying logarithms,
for example) before calculating the standard error and confidence interval; a good
statistics text, such as Fowler and Cohen (1992), should be consulted for these
transformations.
If the confidence limits for population estimates are too wide – if a more precise
estimate is required – the standard error and therefore the confidence limit can be
reduced by increasing the sample size. However, using a larger number of sampling
units would increase the time and costs involved in completing the survey.

_______________________________________________________________________
Accuracy, precision and bias
In statistics, the terms accuracy, precision and bias have particular meanings. ‘Accuracy’
is the closeness of a measured value to its true value. If the divers in the sea cucumber
example had sampled sampling units only at the centre of the stock’s distribution, the
example had sampled sampling units only at the centre of the stocks distribution, the
stock estimate would be inaccurate or biased (in this case, the stock would be
underestimated). “Precision” is the closeness of repeated measurements to the same
value, ans is usually measured as the spread of values around their mean value. These

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measures include variance and standard deviation, and precision increases as the
variation decreases.
Precision is therefore independent of accuracy, and a useful measure of precision
is the coefficient of variation, which is equal to the standard deviation divided by the
mean, usually expressed as a percentage by multiplying by 100. Field surveys usually
aim for coefficients of variation of less than 20 percent. The measure is also useful
when comparing the degree of variability between samples whose means are quite
different.
Assuming that the means of a large number of samples are normally distributed
the concepts of accuracy and precision can be illustrated as in Figure 3.8, in which the
curves represent the distribution of the sample means, and the vertical broken lines
represent the true mean of the population.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______

Stratified sampling

For a given amount of sampling effort, a greater degree of precision (narrower

confidence limits) can sometimes be attained by concentrating sampling in areas, or

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strata, of high abundance (Saville 1977). Stratified sampling involves conducting an

initial survey to identify different strata in the stock. In Figure 3.7, for example, the
stock may conveniently be divided into two areas on the basis of density of individuals,
stratum A which includes the densely populated depths between 5m and 10 m, and
stratum B which includes both shallower and deeper areas. The area of each stratum (if
based on depth) can usually be obtained from marine charts, and the mean numbers
per sampling unit in each stratum can be estimated by initial sampling. One set of
results from Figure 3.7 is given in Table 3.2, which shows the stratified sampling ratio
as the product of the area ratio and the density ratio. These calculations suggest that
the relative sampling effort to be expended in strata A and B should be in the ratio of
290.196, or approximately 3:2. Thus, if time and funding constraints allowed only ten
sampling units to be sampled, the optimum sampling plan would consist of completing
six sampling units in depths between 5m and 10m (stratum A) and four sampling units
in other depths (stratum B).

The stratified mean, x̄ , may be calculated as:

where x̄ a and x̄ b are the mean numbers per sampling unit in strata A and B respectively.
The variance of the stratified mean, s_,may be calculated as:

where sa2 and sb2 are the sample variances, and na, and nb, are the numbers of sampling
units in strata A and B respectively. Confidence limits may be estimated as x̄ ± t√s2.

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Swept area method

The swept area method is a variation of the partial counts method, and is applicable to
trawling. A trawl net is used to estimate the mean catch at a number of stations in a
fish stock; the mean catch per area swept by the trawl (a) is multiplied by the stock
area (A) to estimate the stock size, or more usually, the total stock weight or biomass
(Figure 3.10). A towed trawl net in fact samples fish in an area which is equivalent to a
long rectangular sampling unit with an area a, estimated as:

a = W * TV * D
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where W is the effective width of the trawl, TV is the towing velocity, and D is the
duration of the tow. The effective width of the trawl is often taken to be the distance
between the otter boards or doors (door spread), although this assumes that the doors
and sweeps are effectively herding fish into the path of the net. An examination of how
the depth of water, towing speed and other trawl parameters may affect door spread is
given by Hurst and Bagley (1992).

As no trawl net is totally efficient, the catch weight, Cw, made during the tow of the
net is usually less than the actual weight of fish in the path of the towed net. The
proportion of fish in the path of the net which is retained in the codend is termed the
vulnerability, v. The weight or biomass of fish in the path of the trawl is therefore Cw/v.
An estimate of the total stock biomass, B, is obtained by multiplying the biomass of the
fish in the path of the trawl by the ratio of the stock area to the trawled area:

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B = CW/v * (A/a)
(3.6)

where CW = mean catch weight per tow, v = the vulnerability of the fish, A= the total
area occupied by the stock, and a = the area covered by the standard trawl. The
standard error of the mean may be estimated using Equation (3.4).
Vulnerability is difficult to estimate by conventional means, although underwater
video cameras may be useful in this respect, and a 'guessed’ value of v = 0.5, which
assumes that 50 per cent of the fish in the path of the net escape capture, is
sometimes used. The value of v depends to a large degree on the target species ability
either to manoeuvre out of the path of the trawl or to keep on swimming ahead of the
approaching net. The most conservative estimate of stock biomass is obtained by
assuming that the species is totally vulnerable ( v = 1). Note the distinction between
vulnerability, the proportion of fish in the gear's area of influence which is retained, and
catchability, the proportion of fish in the stock which is caught by one unit of effort.
Analyses analogous to the swept area method may be applied to other gears if
some estimate of the gear's area of influence is available. Where baited traps are set
along a bottom line, some indication of their area of influence may be gained by noting
the spacing at which the traps begin to compete with each other; if traps are set too
close together, competitive effects will cause catch rates to decrease. When traps are
set along a bottom line for deep-water shrimps, those spaced at more than about 50 m
apart appear not to compete with each other. From this it may be assumed that a
single trap attracts shrimps from within a radius of half this distance, although currents
on the sea floor may cause the area to be elliptical. In this case, a rough estimate of
biomass may be obtained by a modification of Equation (3.6):

B = CPUE * (A/a)

where A = the total area of the stock, and a = the circular area of the trap's influence.

Mark – recapture methods

The simplest mark – recapture experiment to estimate stock size is known as the
Petersen method. With this method, a known number of marked or tagged fish is
released into a fish stock, and the proportion of recaptured tagged fish in subsequent
catches is used to estimate the stock size. The large rectangle in Figure 3.11 shows a
fish stock of unknown size, of which 32 tagged fish (solid shapes) were released. At a
later time, a catch of 36 fish (in the small rectangle in the lower right-hand corner) was
found to include six tagged individuals. The stock size may be estimated by assuming

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that the ratio of tagged fish (T) in the stock (N) is equal to the ratio of recaptured
tagged fish (R) in the catch (C), i.e.:

T/N = R/C

From this an estimate of the stock size (N) may be obtained a:

N = TC/R
(3.7)

The use of this formula provides only a single estimate, but a large number of replicate
catches (samples) would produce a set of estimates which are distributed about the
population size. This distribution has a standarderror of se = √[T2C(C – R )/R3]. In the
case of the example shown in Figure 3.11:

N = (32 * 36)/6 = 192

se = √[322 * 36 * (36 – 6)/63] = 71.6

The 95 per cent confidence interval about the population estimate is obtained by
multiplying the standard error by 1.96 (in large samples); in the case of the example
there is 95 per cent confidence that the stock contains between (192 - 140) and (192 +
140), or between 52 and 332 fish.

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The accuracy of the Petersen estimate depends on meeting several assumptions.

Initially, the tagged individuals must be distributed randomly over the population, and
after tagging there is no recruitment, migration or tag-induced mortality before
sampling the stock. The presence of the tag must not alter the chance of a fish either
surviving or being caught by the fishing gear. If an external plastic tag, for example,
resulted in fish being more susceptible to capture by becoming entangled in a gill net,
Equation (3.7) shows that the stock size would be underestimated. In fact Equation
(3.7) will tend to overestimate stock size, particularly for small sample sizes, because of
the use of reciprocals in the equation. There are several more sophisticated ways of
using mark-recapture data to estimate stock size, and some allow the use of data from
multiple releases of tagged fish (Youngs & Robson 1978), but in all many of the
assumptions are seldom satisfied.

Depletion methods

The principle of estimating stock abundance by depletion can be illustrated by a simple

example of a fish survey, in which the initial catch per unit effort (CPUE) was 50 fish
per hour, and, after 3000 fish had been caught, the CPUE was reduced to a CPUE of 30
fish per hour, i.e. by 40 per cent. As the removal of 3000 fish caused CPUE to drop by
40 per cent, it would take a catch of 7500 to decrease the CPUE by 100 per cent, i.e. to
the point where the CPUE and the stock size are both zero. As the total catch is
equivalent to the removal of the whole population, the estimate of the initial exploitable
stock is 7500. The estimate of the initial stock size is likely to be reasonable as long as
CPUE is proportional to stock size, and has been reduced over a short time period,
during which recruitment, migration and natural mortality can be ignored.
A depletion experiment involves deliberately overfishing an isolated population of
fish. After the commencement of fishing, the numbers, Nt, present at time t will be
equal to the original stock size, N∞, less the accumulated catch (ΣCt) up to time t.

Nt = N∞ − Ct
(3.8)

By definition (Equation (3.1)), the catchability coefficient, q, is the proportion of the

total stock caught by one unit of effort, so that, at time t, CPUEt = q Nt and, therefore:

Nt = CPUEt/q
(3.9)

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Substituting Equation (3.9) in Equation (3.8) gives:

CPUEt = q N∞ − q ΣCt
(3.10)

Equation (3.10) suggests that if a fish stock is fished heavily, catch per unit effort at
time interval t (CPUEt) may be graphed against cumulative catch (Σ Ct) as a straight line.
In this graph, referred to as a Leslie plot, the positive value of the slope of the
relationship is equal to the catchability coefficient, q. An estimate of the initial stock
size, N∞, which is equivalent to the point where the line crosses the X-axis (where CPUE
= 0), may be found by dividing the intercept, qN∞ by the slope, q. The Leslie model and
the DeLury model (Ricker 1975) are frequently used to analyse data from intensive
fishing on a closed stock, the latter model is similar to the former, except that
logarithms of CPUE are used in the plot.
An ideal experimental situation is where a species exists in a small area which is
isolated from the larger part of the stock. Such situations occur naturally where non-
migratory species are found in separate bays along a coastline, or on a chain of
separated banks or sea mounts. In some cases, experimental situations can be created
artificially; if fish live in a large estuary, for example, where part of the area can be
closed off with small-mesh nets, the enclosed part of the population can be intensively
fished.
The following example is based on stocks of deep-water snapper (Lutjanidae) in
Western Samoa in the South Pacific, where commercial fishers began fishing in an area
remote from the usual fishing grounds. The area of 3.4 square nautical miles (11.7 km 2)
was considered to be sufficiently isolated from the rest of the stock to allow catch and
effort data to be used in a depletion analysis (King 1990). In Table 3.3, fishing effort is
recorded as the number of hours each fishing line was used (line-hours). The catch per
unit effort (in numbers caught per line-hour) is shown in column 4. The cumulative
catch, which is conventionally recorded as the number of fish caught up to the
beginning of time interval t (column 5), is also shown in the table as the number of fish
caught up to the beginning of time interval t, plus one-half the catch from time interval
t (column 6); this adjustment proposed by Chapman (in Polovina 1986a) allows for the
decline in CPUE during each time interval.
Figure 3.12 shows a Leslie plot for the data in Table 3.3; the straight line relating
CPUE to ΣC has been fitted mathematically (see [3.2]). The stock size, N∞, is estimated
by the intercept, a, divided by the slope, b, (or as the point where the line cuts the
cumulative catch axis), and the catchability coefficient, q, as the positive value of the
slope:

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q = − (b) = − (− 0.00020) = 0.00020 per line-hour

N∞ = − (a/b) = 0.522/0.0002 = 2610 fish

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The catchability coefficient, q, applies to the area under consideration, in this case 11.7
km2, and suggests that the use of one line-hour of fishing effort will catch a proportion
of 0.0002 of the total stock in this area. The proportion caught in one line-hour in 1 km 2
will be larger, and therefore:

q = (0.0002 * 11.7) = 0.0023 per km2

If the initial catch rate (CPUE∞) is available from another adjacent stock with an area, A
km2, the numbers of vulnerable fish (N∞) in this area can be estimated, as suggested in
Equation (3.9), by multiplying the area of habitat by CPUE ∞/q, where q is the value of
the catchability coefficient per km2:

N∞ = A * CPUE∞/q
(3.11)

One of the most commonly overlooked considerations in running depletion experiments

is that fishing effort must be sufficient to reduce the stock in the chosen area over a
short time. Several attempts to conduct depletion experiments have failed because
either the available fishing effort was too small or the experimental area was too large
to produce a reduction in CPUE over a short time.

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An additional problem in the case of multispecies stocks is that the catchability of

each of the component species may not remain constant during the course of the
depletion experiment.
In hook and line fisheries, for example, a more aggressive species, or a species
with a greater ability to detect baits, may have a higher catchability than the other
species. As the numbers of this species are reduced, other species may gain more
access to the baits, and therefore have an increasing catchability as the depletion
experiment progresses. A model which allows the catchability of one species to vary
inversely with the abundance of competing species has been suggested by Polovina
(1986b).
Depletion experiments may produce an incorrect estimate of the catchability
coefficient and the stock size if CPUE is not directly proportional to stock size. If CPUE is
recorded from a commercial fishing operation where a large degree of fisher skill is
involved, fishers may maintain their catch rates as the abundance drops by targeting
the remaining high concentrations of fish. In this case, q would be underestimated and
the initial stock size overestimated. Conversely, if only a proportion of the stock is
vulnerable at any one time, recorded CPUEs would decrease at a high rate and stock
abundance would be underestimated. This may occur in cryptic species or species with
spatially separated age groups (see Chapter 5 for a review of using CPUE data to
estimate abundance).

D. ACTIVITIES
ESSAY. Explain substantially the following statements and questions.
1. Explain why ecosystems can be relatively stable over hundreds or thousands of
years, even though populations may fluctuate.

2. Explain how the use, protection and conservation of natural resources by humans
impact the environment from one generation to the next.

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3. Evaluate the claims, evidence and reasoning that the complex interactions in
ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable
conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
E. SELF-ASSESSMENT
Instruction: Identify the following questions and provide the answer according to its
definition.

______________1. It is referring to a small discrete group of individuals which has the

same gene pool, is self-perpetuating, and has little connection with adjacent groups.

______________2. The most commonly used index to calculate this data in fisheries
studies is catch per unit effort where Catch ( C) and fishing effort (f) data are usually
collected in all managed fisheries and in fisheries surveys.

______________3. The most direct way of estimating absolute abundance is by

counting the number of individuals in small parts (or sampling units) of the whole
population called ________.

______________4. It is referring to the actual number of individuals in an area or total

fish stock.
______________5. It is the study of how and why populations change in size and
structure over time.

______________6. This method of estimating fish stock is applicable to trawling where

a trawl net is used to estimate the mean catch at a number of stations in a fish stock;
the mean catch per area swept by the trawl (a) is multiplied by the stock(A) to estimate
the stock size, or more usually, the total stock weight or biomass.
______________7. It is the closeness of a measured value to its true value.

______________8. It is the closeness of repeated measurements to the same value,

and is usually measured as the spread of values around their mean value.

______________9. The simplest mark – recapture experiment to estimate stock size is

known as the _______________.

______________10. In this techniques, the techniques involve the use of an echo

sounder or sonar to estimate the dimensions and packing densities of schools of fish.
Pulses of acoustic energy released from an echosounder strike objects such as the sea

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floor or fish, and bounce back in the form of echo signals which can be detected by a
transducer set in the hull of a vessel. Fish may be counted and their size estimated by
the number and amplitude of their echo signals.

F. ANSWER KEY
1. Unit Stock
2. Relative Abundance
3. Partial Counts
4. Absolute abundance
5. Population dynamics
6. Swept Area Method
7. Accuracy
8. Precision
9. Petersen method
10. Acoustic Techniques

G. REFERENCES

AREM 240 (Fisheries Biology) by Michael Robert O. Apan

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