Mean weights at age in Celtic Sea Herrings

Abstract

Stock recruitment analysis for Celtic sea herring suggest that exploitation rates of F >0.4 carry a high probability of long term SSB decline. Fmed, which would carry a much lower risk of reducing the SSB, has been suggested as a candidate for Fpa and most recent analyses give this value at 0.29. However based on last years assessment only 4 of the 41 estimated fishing mortalaties were equal or less than 0.3 while 26 were higher or equal to 0.4 with the series average being F=0.50. This would indicate that F>0.4 does not seem carry a high probability of stock collapse. Thus there is an apparent discrepancy between the analyses and experience.