Standing on the shoulders of giants: learning from experience in fisheries

Abstract

Progress in any field depends primarily on our ability to synthesize previous experience to stand on the shoulders of the giants who have worked before us. In fisheries management we have learned a great deal from past experience, but we have also failed to do so. Most stock assessments use no quantitative information derived from previous experience on other fish stocks, and often fix parameter vaues at some best estimates rather than admit uncertainty in their value. Meta-analysis provides a method to admit the uncertainty in most model parameters while using experience from other populations to provide an estimate of the distribution of the parameter. We demonstrate the application of meta-analysis for the intensity of depensation in spawner-recruit relationships in two species of Pacific salmon, and we discuss the potential of, and limitations to, meta-analysis in fisheries stock assessment.