Fishing Effort

Fishing effort is the amount of fishing activity applied to a stock, measured in vessel-days, hours fished, hooks set, net soak time, or trawl tows. It is the input side of the catch equation: catch equals effort times catchability times abundance, so catch per unit effort serves as an abundance index in stock assessment. Managers cap effort directly through days-at-sea limits or a total allowable effort. Effort creep, the rise in real fishing power per nominal unit as gear and electronics improve, means nominal effort understates the pressure on the stock.