ill 



As it became clear that fishing fleet's technical ability to diminish 

 stocks was growing, assessments sought to provide information upon which to 

 make management decisions. 



However, under International Commissions, management decisions were 

 based upon political negotiations as well as biological considerations. 

 While fisheries were expanding, the notion that the resources of the ocean 

 were far from being overutilized was popular. Assessment science developed 

 according to single-species indicators that were based upon the assumption 

 that the effects of harvesting activity were relatively long term in nature; 

 consequently, the science depended on complicated models that required ex- 

 tensive data and long periods of time to reach results. 



Part I of this report describes existing assessment methodology. In- 

 formation requirements are outlined, as are the necessary biological assump- 

 tions and the methods utilized. A discussion of the unavoidable complexities 

 that drive research design of assessment methodology then follows, indicating 

 a primary cause for the enormous data and time requirements that presently 

 exist. 



Fishing developments and activities have further complicated assess- 

 ments. In the 1960s, particularly in the Northwest Atlantic, there occurred 

 a sudden and massive introduction of factory-type vessels on grounds that 

 had traditionally been very productive for small-boat, rural fisheries. 

 Yields from popular banks more than doubled within three years. Species 

 that had formerly remained underutilized were subjected to intensive-directed 

 fisheries. As analysis of assessments for the Georges Bank haddock fishery 

 indicates (Part II), many of the problems with assessments often had little 

 to do with the scientific methodology itself. Indeed, the generation of 



