title: Can estimates of genetic effective population size contribute to fisheries stock assessments?
abstract: Sustainable exploitation of fisheries populations is challenging to achieve when the size of the population prior to exploitation and the actual numbers removed over time and across fishing zones are not clearly known. Quantitative fisheries' modeling is able to address this problem, but accurate and reliable model outcomes depend on high quality input data. Much of this information is obtained through the operation of the fishery under consideration, but while this seems appropriate, biases may occur. For example, poorly quantified changes in fishing methods that increase catch rates can erroneously suggest that the overall population size is increasing. Hence, the incorporation of estimates of abundance derived from independent data sources is preferable. We review and evaluate a fisheries-independent method of indexing population size; inferring adult abundance from estimates of the genetic effective size of a population (Ne). Recent studies of elasmobranch species have shown correspondence between Neand ecologically determined estimates of the population size (N). Simulation studies have flagged the possibility that the range of Ne/N ratios across species may be more restricted than previously thought, and also show that declines in Netrack declines in the abundance of model fisheries species. These key developments bring this new technology closer to implementation in fisheries science, particularly for data-poor fisheries or species of conservation interest.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Fisheries Laboratory, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Ovenden
authors.affiliation: Agri-Science Queensland, Department of Agriculture & Fisheries, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Leigh
authors.affiliation: Molecular Fisheries Laboratory, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.|School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Blower
authors.affiliation: Molecular Fisheries Laboratory, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.|Centre for Applications in Natural Resource Mathematics, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Fisheries, Forestry & Land, Australian Bureau of Agricultural & Resource Economics and Sciences, Department of Agriculture & Water Resources, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Molecular Fisheries Laboratory, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.|Shark & Ray Research Group, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bustamante
authors.affiliation: Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre, Oceans & Atmosphere, CSIRO, Berrimah, NT, 0820, Australia.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Buckworth
authors.affiliation: Shark & Ray Research Group, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: Molecular Fisheries Laboratory, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.|Shark & Ray Research Group, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Dudgeon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D005398:Fisheries; D005399:Fishes; D005828:Genetics, Population; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011156:Population Density; D011157:Population Dynamics
keywords: Ne; absolute abundance; fishery-independent data; linkage disequilibrium; sustainable exploitation