Abstract
IN an exploited fishery, one of the main functions which a properly selected size-limit can have is to ensure that the weight of the yield is the maximum possible, with minimum losses due to unrealized growth or natural deaths. Where all fish reaching the limit are caught, determination of the correct value for the limit to achieve this purpose is theoretically simple, although in practice the basic data regarding growth- and mortality-rates, on which the determination is based, may not be easy to obtain. Such cropping conditions are found only in fishfarming. Normally, in fish stocks subjected to either angling or commercial fishing, only a small proportion of the fish reaching the limiting size pass into the catch. This causes a modification to the optimum value of the limit. Ricker1 has pointed out that the size-limit must be less under these conditions than when cropping is complete, and has described a method for computing the optimum value when full data regarding growth, natural mortality and cropping-rates are available.
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Ricker, W. E., Copeia, 121 (1945).
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ALLEN, K. A Method for computing the Optimum Size-Limit for a Fishery. Nature 172, 210 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/172210a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/172210a0
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