Evaluation of Threshold Management Strategies for Groundfish off the U.S. West Coast

摘要

Threshold management strategies for groundfish off the US West Coast were discussed. The specific tools used to implement management measures ranged among fisheries jurisdictions. Threshold management strategies involved a threshold stock size below which catch was set to zero, a constant rate of fishing mortality above some higher and the threshold stock sizes within which the rate of fishing mortality was gradually reduced to zero. The results showed that implementing a threshold management strategy was not the same as simply changing the fishing mortality rate. It was concluded that the ideal way to evaluate the performance of a management strategy was via closed-loop simulations in which the application of the assessment method on which the harvest control rule was based was included in the simulation procedure.