Recent legislation requires Fishery Management Councils to
set annual catch limits for all stocks and stock complexes. To address the
challenge of setting overfishing limits (OFLs) for stocks with unknown status,
SWFSC Fisheries Ecology Division researchers E.J. Dick and Alec MacCall
compared results from two data-poor methods to results from accepted data-rich
stock assessments of various west-coast groundfish species. Their comparisons
were presented to the groundfish subcommittee of the Pacific Fishery Management
Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) in Seattle, Washington.
The two methods,
Depletion-Corrected Average Catch (DCAC) and Depletion-Based Stock Reduction
Analysis (DB-SRA), require only historical catch and basic life-history
information, and provided estimates of yield and OFLs that compared favorably
with results from the stock assessments. The subcommittee endorsed application
of these methods to un-assessed stocks in the PFMC's Groundfish Fishery
Management Plan. The authors recommend that other Fishery Management Councils
consider using these methods where applicable.
(February 8, 2010)