CFP Fish Population Dynamics & Stock Assessment Flashcards
6 cards from real CFP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 CFP Fish Population Dynamics & Stock Assessment flashcards as text
Which metric is used in stock assessment to describe the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) of a fish population?
Answer: The highest yield that can be taken from a stock indefinitely under existing conditions
MSY is defined as the highest yield that can be sustainably taken from a stock under existing environmental conditions.
In a catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) index, what does a declining CPUE typically indicate?
Answer: A decrease in fish abundance or population density
A declining CPUE generally signals that fish abundance is decreasing relative to the fishing effort applied.
What is the purpose of a virtual population analysis (VPA) in fisheries science?
Answer: Reconstruct historical population size and fishing mortality from catch-at-age data
VPA uses age-structured catch data to back-calculate the historical abundance and fishing mortality of a stock.
Which age-determination method is most commonly used for freshwater fishes in the US?
Answer: Scale annuli
Scale annuli are the most widely used aging method for many US freshwater species because scales are easy to collect non-lethally.
The Beverton-Holt recruitment model describes what relationship?
Answer: The relationship between spawning stock biomass and subsequent recruitment
The Beverton-Holt model is a stock-recruitment function that relates the number of spawners to the number of recruits produced.
What does the term 'recruitment overfishing' mean in stock assessment?
Answer: Reducing the spawning stock so severely that recruitment is impaired
Recruitment overfishing occurs when the spawning population is reduced to a level where it can no longer produce adequate numbers of juveniles to sustain the stock.