Stock Assessment Program
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| Stock assessments
are designed to provide scientific advice to resource
managers on the current status and future trends in
abundance and productivity of exploited marine resources.
Assessments provide the technical basis for setting
annual fishery quotas and other fishery
management measures that will achieve optimum yield
from the fishery while avoiding overfishing and ecosystem
harm. Confidently achieving this balance between exploitation
and conservation requires substantial information about
the fish stock, its fishery, ecosystem and habitat.
At minimum, a quantitative stock assessment requires
monitoring of catch, abundance, and biological characteristics
of the stock. These three primary sources of data feed
into mathematical models that represent the demographics
of the harvested fish stock and produce estimates of
relevant fishery management factors. Information on
ecosystem and environmental effects is incorporated
into the models, when possible, to improve the interpretation
of historical information and the precision of forecasts. |
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Stock Assessment Improvement
Plan
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| The Marine
Fisheries Stock Assessment Improvement Plan is a report of the NOAA
Fisheries
National Task Force for Improving Fish Stock Assessments.
The report, published in 2001, is a major contribution
to NOAA Fisheries’ plan for enhancing and modernizing
programs for data collection, information technology,
data management, stock assessments, scientific research,
and fisheries management. Included are specific
recommendations for improving the quality of NOAA Fisheries'
stock assessment programs (see Figure next)
and emphasizes the need for the agency to foster partnerships
and cooperative research programs with other federal
and state agencies, private foundations, universities,
commercial and recreational fishing organizations and
individuals, environmental groups, and others with
a vested interest in collecting similar types of data.
The SAIP provides a standard classification of the
levels of information needed to achieve tiers of excellence
in stock assessments. The concepts developed
in the SAIP have contributed significantly to subsequent
NOAA and NOAA Fisheries Strategic Plans and to performance
measures that track progress in stock assessment improvement. |
Stock Assessment Toolbox
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The NOAA Fisheries Stock Assessment Toolbox was developed to facilitate consistency, accuracy,
accessibility and ease-of-use for computerized mathematical
models used to conduct assessments of harvested fish
stocks. The Toolbox is organized to provide a collection
of independent programs. By 2003 the Toolbox contained
8 programs, and 5 more are scheduled for release in
2004. For each program, the calculation engine and
graphical
interface are independent modules so that the calculation
engine may be developed using any language or tool
needed and the graphical interfaces can be made as
similar as possible. Manuals and context-sensitive
help files have been developed for most of the programs.
The toolbox committee, chaired by Dr. Richard
Methot,
has a representative from each Science Center and provides
oversight. The Toolbox, is maintained by
Alan Seaver at the Northeast Fisheries
Science Center. |
National Standard 1 Guidelines
NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Science and Technology has consistently
played a significant role in the development of guidelines
for implementation of the Sustainable Fisheries Act’s National Standard
1 (NS1). NS1 defines conditions for specification of optimum
yield, overfishing and
stock depletion, and criteria for rebuilding stocks to
levels that can support sustainable fisheries. Quantification
of all these factors depends
upon reliable stock assessments. The National
Stock Assessment workshops in 1991, 1992, and 1998 focused on developing
technical advice from stock
assessments for NS1 issues. Feature article in the
1999 Our Living Oceans report continued
this theme by providing an overview of the precautionary
approach to fishery management, including the role of stock
assessments in quantifying this approach. In 2003, a new
working group chaired
by ST4 was formed
to review the NS1 guidelines. The working group, delivered
recommendations to NOAA Fisheries leadership in November
2003 for consideration in future revisions to NS1 Guidelines.
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