Yield per Recruit

Yield per recruit (Y/R) is a fisheries model that estimates the lifetime catch weight obtained from one recruit as a function of fishing mortality and the age or size at first capture, balancing growth gain against mortality loss. Derived from the Beverton-Holt dynamic pool model (1957), it identifies the fishing pattern that maximizes yield from each cohort and shows that catching fish too young (growth overfishing) wastes potential biomass. Y/R guides minimum-size limits, mesh regulation, and effort controls, and complements spawning-stock metrics, since it ignores the stock-recruitment relationship and so does not protect against recruitment overfishing on its own.