Abstract

Pretty good yield (PGY) is a sustainable fish yield corresponding to obtaining no less than a specified large percentage of the maximum sustainable yield (MSY). We investigated 19 European fish stocks to test the hypothesis that the 95% PGY yield range is inherently precautionary with respect to impairing recruitment. An F-MSY range was calculated for each stock as the range of fishing mortalities (F) that lead to an average catch of at least 95% of MSY in long-term simulations. Further, a precautionary reference point for each stock (F-P.05) was defined as the F resulting in a 5% probability of the spawning-stock biomass falling below an agreed biomass limit below which recruitment is impaired (B-lim) in long-term simulations. For the majority of the stocks analysed, the upper bound of the F-MSY range exceeded the estimated F-P.05. However, larger fish species had higher precautionary limits to fishing mortality, and species with larger asymptotic length were less likely to have F-MSY ranges impairing recruitment. Our study shows that fishing at F-MSY generally is precautionary with respect to impairing recruitment for highly exploited teleost species in northern European waters, whereas the upper part of the range providing 95% of MSY is not necessarily precautionary for small-and medium-sized teleosts.

Keywords

FMSY ranges; impaired recruitment; maximum sustainable yield; pretty good yield

Published in

ICES Journal of Marine Science
2017, Volume: 74, number: 2, pages: 525-534

SLU Authors

• Cardinale, Massimiliano

  • Department of Aquatic Resources (SLU Aqua), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

Coastal and sea areas


Sustainable Development Goals

SDG14 Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development


UKÄ Subject classification

Fish and Aquacultural Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsw111

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/81192