Stock Assessment

A stock assessment is the quantitative evaluation of a fish population’s size, productivity, and status against reference points, feeding the catch advice that managers set as quotas. Integrated models such as Stock Synthesis combine catch records, survey indices, length and age data, and tagging into a single statistical fit, estimating biomass, recruitment, and fishing mortality with uncertainty. ICES expert working groups and NOAA assessment teams run these models, then ACOM or regional councils translate the output into TAC advice.