Does selectivity matter? A fisheries management perspective

Butterworth, Doug S; Rademeyer, Rebecca A; Brandão, Anabela; Geromont, Helena F; Johnston, Susan J

Does selectivity matter? A fisheries management perspective

Journal Article

2014

Journal Title

Fisheries Research

Link to Journal

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01657836

Publisher

Elsevier

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Marine Resource Assessment and Management Group

Faculty

Faculty of Science

Abstract

The authors’ experiences in relation to the estimation of selectivity and its impact on the formulation of management advice are summarised for 14 different resources. These include instances where advice (generally in the form of a catch limit) is based on an assessment, as well as cases where a Management Procedure is developed (applying MSE) for this purpose. Relative paucity of older fish in either or both of catches or surveys is a frequent occurrence which has a number of alternative explanations, including doming in selectivity, and estimates of many biological reference points are not robustto this uncertainty. However, when the impacts of uncertainties in estimating selectivities are considered relative to those of the other uncertainties which also influence the calculation of catch limits, the former usually (although not always) seem to be of somewhat lesser importance.