developed by scientists. Methods utilized are broken up into two categories including: stock
assessment and stock management. By utilizing a variety of methods to quantify the ever
changing quantity of fish in the sea, stock assessments are able to provide a realistic idea of the
impact we have on marine life. Marine stock assessments play a pivital role in the regulation and
understanding of marine fish. While Stock assessments are effective it is important to understand
they also has its limitations.
Marine Stock assessments aim to provide an accurate depiction of fish stock by gathering
data using different methods. The basis for each …show more content…
Finally, Catch simply refers to the trends in fish caught. The three categories work
together to provide the information necessary in order to implement Marine stock assessments.
There is currently a wide variety of stock assessments being utilized, including; Catch
per Unit Effort, Virtual Population Analysis, Research Surveying and Chaos Theory. CPUE
measures the quantity of a given species of fish by comparing the size of the catch with the
amount of days the boat is out to sea. CPUE is important because it provides us with information
in regards to how much fishing of a specific species is sustainable. It also shows us when a
species is being overfished and becomes at risk. Virtual Population Analysis provides us with an
estimate of fish born each year by monitoring samples provided at fishing docks. VPA also takes
into consideration fish that are now dead and is repeated each year. Research surveying look at
certain samples at multiple locations they also looks at the effects certain actions are having on
the marine life and the marine environment, including hook and line fishing as well as bottom
trawling. Scientists have recently begun utilizing chaos theory in stock assessments.