MAXIMUM POPULATION-GROWTH RATES AND RECOVERY TIMES FOR ATLANTIC COD, GADUS-MORHUA

We examine the population to population variability of intrinsic rate of natural increase, r(m), of Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua. The intrinsi c rate of increase is positively related to temperature, contrary to t he expectation that r(m) might increase as the high and low temperatur e limits of habitability for cod are approached. For the parameter reg ime considered, r(m) has a simple dependence on age-at-maturity and th e number of replacements each spawner can produce at low population de nsities <(alpha)over bar>. It is shown that <(alpha)over bar> has no s ignificant temperature dependence, and, thus the covariation of r(m) a nd temperature arises from the influence of temperature on age-at-matu rity, We demonstrate that our estimates of r(m) are robust and thus ma y be of use in estimating the recovery time of depleted populations.