Introduction to stock assessment

Module 3: Summary

Projections estimate how fish stocks may respond to future management action
The farther into the future projections look, the greater uncertainty becomes
Scientists are responsible for communicating risk to managers by providing advice in a way that conveys the uncertainty associated with taking different management actions
Management strategy evaluation (MSE) uses computer simulation to test different strategies for managing a fishery. It compares the performance of each strategy at achieving management objectives
MSE is meant to be a transparent and repeatable process for decision making.
MSE is an alternative approach to traditional stock assessment. While they are related, they answer different questions:
- Traditional stock assessment asks: "What is happening now?"
- MSE asks: "What would happen if…?"