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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access originally published online on October 25, 2006
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2007 64(1):149-159; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsl005
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Published by Oxford University Press 2006 For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Delay in fishery management: diminished yield, longer rebuilding, and increased probability of stock collapse1

Kyle W. Shertzer and Michael H. Prager

National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, 101 Pivers Island Road, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA

Correspondence to K.W. Shertzer: tel.: +1 252 728 8607; fax: +1 252 728 8619; e-mail: Kyle.Shertzer{at}noaa.gov

Shertzer, K. W., and Prager, M. H. 2007. Delay in fishery management: diminished yield, longer rebuilding, and increased probability of stock collapse. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64: 149–159.

When a stock is depleted, catch reductions are in order, but typically they are implemented only after considerable delay. Delay occurs because fishery management is political, and stricter management, which involves short-term economic loss, is unpopular. Informed of stock decline, managers often hesitate, perhaps pondering the uncertainty of scientific advice, perhaps hoping that a good year class will render action moot. However, management delay itself can have significant costs, when it exacerbates stock decline. To examine the biological consequences of delay, we simulated a spectrum of fisheries under various degrees of delay in management. Increased delay required larger catch reductions, for more years, to recover benchmark stock status (here, spawning-stock biomass at maximum sustainable yield). Management delay caused stock collapse most often under two conditions: (1) when the stock–recruitment relationship was depensatory, or (2) when catchability, unknown to the assessment, was density-dependent and fishing took juveniles. In contrast, prompt management resulted in quicker recoveries and higher cumulative yields from simulated fisheries. Benefits to stock biomass and fishery yield can be high from implementing management promptly.

Keywords: catchability, depensation, fishery management, precautionary approach, reference points, REPAST, stock assessment

Received 21 November 2005; accepted 18 August 2006; advance access publication 25 October 2006.


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