Fisheries Technology and Stock Assessment

Module 1. Fisheries technology. Introduction to the different types of fishing gear, classification of fishing gear, gear characteristics, methods of capture, and species and size selectivity. Static gear and active gear: gillnets and trammel nets, longlines, traps, pots, octopus pots, trawls, dredges and purse seine. Selectivity: species and size selectivity; selectivity models, parameter estimation, impacts of fishing gear: ghost fishing. The impacts of fishing: species and size selectivity, by-catch and discards, dynamics of mean size, degradation of habitats, population, community and ecosystem level effects of fishing. Mitigation of impacts: technological solutions (BRDs). Fish behavior in relation to fishing gear; “Fish Aggregating Devices”(FADs). Acoustic methods (fish detection).

Module 2. Stock assessment. Introduction to stock assessment and historical perspective .Roles and objectives of stock assessment and management. Management units. Sampling and data for stock assessment. Population dynamics: growth, mortality, and stock and recruitment. Parameter estimation. Stock assessment: surplus production models, yield per recruit models, virtual population analysis, cohort analysis, multi-species models. Indicators and reference points.