A MODERN APPROACH TO CATCH-AGE ANALYSIS FOR HECATE STRAIT ROCK SOLE (PLEURONECTES BILINEATUS)

We analyse catch-age data for Hecate Strait rock sole (Pleuronectes bi lineatus) over the 1945-95 period. We,employ a stochastic state-space model to assess uncertainty in stock abundance and recruitment trends. Rock sole biomass appears to have increased substantially since 1945. However, the apparent increase in biomass may be an artifact of incon sistencies in the age proportion data. Broad confidence intervals for model estimates of spawning stock biomass and corresponding age-it rec ruits illustrate the uncertainty in the stock-recruitment relationship . This uncertainty must be acknowledged when results from catch-age an alysis are translated into fishery yields. Thus, the tools we demonstr ate here provide one step in implementing the precautionary approach t o fish stock assessment. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.