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Issue Aquat. Living Resour. Volume 22, Number 2, April-June 2009 Fish Stock Assessments Using Surveys and Indicators Page(s) 217 - 224 DOI 10.1051/alr/2009022 Published online 17 June 2009

Aquat. Living Resour. 22 (2009) 217-224
DOI: 10.1051/alr/2009022

Harvest control rules in the context of fishery-independent management of fish stocks

Panayiota Apostolaki¹ and Richard Hillary<sup>2

1</sup>  CEFAS Lowestoft Lab, Pakefield Road, Suffolk, NR33 0HT, UK
²  Division of Biology, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK

Received 5 August 2008; Accepted 9 April 2009; Published online 17 June 2009.

Abstract - Consideration of control rules as part of fisheries management plans is becoming a common practice. Control rules may be simple or complex and utilise model- or observation-based indicators of the status of the stock to control exploitation through limitation of effort or catches. Rules that control harvest (HCR) often utilize commercial fishery data in the calculation of future catches. However, commercial fishery data may be inaccurate and that can compromise the effectiveness of the HCR in maintaining the stock for secure future harvesting. The idea of fishery-independent HCR has arisen because of these problems. Indicators of the status of a stock are derived from standardised fish surveys, commonly trawl surveys repeated annually. A management strategy that relies on such information also requires adoption of appropriate and effective control rules that utilise such information. Here, we draw attention to diverse HCR, including fishery-dependent examples that have been considered, tested or already adopted for fisheries management. Our intention is to stimulate ideas for HCR that are usable with, or adaptable to fishery-independent indicators.

Key words: HCR / Fishery management / Survey-based management strategies

Corresponding author: panayiota.apostolaki@cefas.co.uk

© EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD 2009

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