Fishery management methods comprise the suite of scientific, regulatory, and operational tools used to maintain fish populations and associated ecosystems at or near defined biological and socioeconomic reference points. They include stock assessment methodologies (e.g., age-structured or surplus-production models), harvest control rules, effort and catch limitations (quotas, size limits, gear restrictions), spatial and temporal closures, rights-based systems (ITQs, TURFs), and ecosystem-based approaches that integrate multispecies interactions and environmental variability. These methods rely on monitoring programs, statistical modeling, and adaptive management frameworks to adjust exploitation rates in response to observed stock status, uncertainty, and management objectives such as maximum sustainable yield or precautionary conservation targets.
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