A Versatile New Stock-Recruitment Relationship for Fisheries, and the Construction of Sustainable Yield Curves

Abstract

A versatile functional form relating recruitment to spawning stock biomass for fisheries is proposed. The non-negative, three-parameter form distinguishes resilience and degree of compensation as two aspects of the density dependence of recruitment, and permits the representation of non-asymptotic, asymptotic, and domed stock-recruitment relationships by parameter variation within the same functional form. Simple methods for parameter estimation are discussed. © 1982 Conseil International pour l’Exploration de la Mer.