Yield

Yield is the catch removed from a fishery, expressed in weight or numbers over a defined period. As a managed quantity it is bounded by reference points: sustainable yield is the catch a stock can replace, maximum sustainable yield is the largest such catch at about half the unfished biomass, and optimum yield is MSY reduced by economic, social, and ecological factors under United States law. Yield per recruit measures the weight a single recruit returns over its fished life and guides the age at first capture. The total allowable catch is the instrument that translates a target yield into an enforceable cap.