866 
Fishery Bulletin 95(4), 1997 
Table 2 
Percent deviation from true instantaneous total mortality rate (Z) for the mean of 1,000 least-squares regression estimates of Z for 
each of the given combinations of sample size and true Z. Frequencies for all age groups were used in calculating mortality rates. 
Sample size 
True Z 
100 
200 
300 
400 
500 
600 
700 
800 
900 
1,000 
0.20 
-36.8 
-28.5 
-24.6 
-22.1 
-20.5 
-19.9 
-18.2 
-17.4 
-17.3 
-15.6 
0.40 
-25.2 
-20.4 
-18.3 
-16.9 
-14.7 
-14.3 
-14.3 
-13.2 
-13.2 
-12.3 
0.60 
-19.6 
-17.1 
-14.0 
-12.9 
-12.9 
-11.9 
-11.5 
-11.3 
-10.7 
-10.6 
0.80 
-15.8 
-14.1 
-11.3 
-11.0 
-10.3 
-9.8 
-9.6 
-9.3 
-9.2 
-9.7 
1.00 
-13.6 
-10.7 
-9.5 
-9.3 
-8.7 
-9.1 
-8.3 
-7.8 
-7.9 
-7.9 
1.20 
-13.0 
-9.1 
-9.2 
-8.4 
-7.3 
-8.2 
-7.5 
-7.2 
-7.3 
-6.8 
1.40 
-10.8 
-9.1 
-7.5 
-7.9 
-6.6 
-6.8 
-6.6 
-6.5 
-5.9 
-7.1 
1.60 
-8.8 
-7.6 
-6.9 
-6.2 
-6.0 
-7.0 
-5.9 
-5.6 
-5.7 
-6.1 
1.80 
-8.3 
-6.7 
-7.2 
-6.4 
-5.5 
-5.1 
-4.4 
-5.6 
-4.8 
-4.9 
2.00 
-7.7 
-5.9 
-6.1 
-6.1 
-5.7 
-5.3 
-5.0 
-5.1 
-4.6 
-4.4 
