WETS1041 Fish stock assessment and fisheries management (6 cr)

Basic population parameters mortality, growth and recruitment, and their dependence on population density and environmental variables, population density and parameter estimation, fishing effort, CPUE and sustainable yield, dynamic pool models, surplus yield models, principles of economics, stochastic simulation. Contemporary views of fisheries management process and operation, coping with uncertainty and risk, precaution principle. Emphasis on small-scale inland fisheries.

By the end of this course, a student should be able to assess the status of fish stocks under potential or actual fishing mortality, understand the central population parameters and be able to estimate their values from data. A student should be able to explain qualitatively the population-level consequences of an increase in fishing effort and be able to build a dynamic population simulator using EXCEL for a more quantitative analysis of this issue. She/he should be able to explain the components and cyclical operational process of fisheries management and identify the uncertainties lying in this process and the risks stemming from them and should know the basic principles of risk management. A student should be able to explain the relevance of social, economic and institutional issues in the context of sustainability of fisheries. After attending the course sessions and reading about 10-15 recent articles a student should be able to discuss the topics put forward in the group discussions.

Good command of Excel and SPSS or R