Is Juvenile Natural Mortality in Marine Demersal Fish Variable?

We test the hypothesis that the interannual variability of the density-independent component of juvenile natural mortality is a major source of variability in abundance of marine demersal fish. Our tests use data on populations for which there are research surveys consisting of two simultaneous esti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Main Authors: Myers, Ransom A., Cadigan, Noel G.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1993
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f93-180
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f93-180
Description
Summary:We test the hypothesis that the interannual variability of the density-independent component of juvenile natural mortality is a major source of variability in abundance of marine demersal fish. Our tests use data on populations for which there are research surveys consisting of two simultaneous estimates of abundance of young juveniles soon after settlement and two more simultaneous estimates of the same cohort a year later. We applied our test to 14 populations of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), whiting (Merlangius merlangus), plaice (Pleuronectes platessa), and sole (Solea vulgaris). We conclude that, in all populations examined except North Sea sole, there was very little or no interannual variability in the density-independent component of juvenile mortality.