Stationarity and rate of dampening of modeled indices of fish abundance inrelation to their exploitation status in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Time series modeling of indices of fish abundance provided support for Rick er's theoretical concept of the effects of fishing on cycling and populatio n behavior. Modeled damped oscillations of indices of fish abundance throug h time reflected a reduction of effect of density-dependent compensatory me chanisms with increased fishing pressure. ARIMA models tended to explain le ss variability for exploited than for unexploited species. Therefore, the u tility of these models is limited for exploited species. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.