Methods for stock assessment of crustacean fisheries

Crustacean fisheries account for nearly 30% of all fish and shellfish landings by value world-wide. This paper reviews and evaluates the application of various stock assessment methods to crustacean fisheries. Methods covered include biomass dynamics models, delay-difference models, depletion methods, equilibrium yield and egg per recruit models and dynamic size-structured models. The development, underlying assumptions, data requirements, benefits and disadvantages of each model are briefly considered. The implications and treatment of uncertainty in data, parameter estimates and model structure are also considered. Finally, we speculate how crustacean stock assessment methodology may evolve in the future. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.