QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF OPTIMUM SUSTAINABLE POPULATION LEVEL

A bstract Quantitative methods are reviewed and compared for determining whether a marine mammal population is at an optimum sustainable population (OSP) level, a management goal specified by the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act. Methods of OSP determination fall into two general types: those that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Mammal Science
Main Authors: Gerrodette, Tim, DeMaster, Douglas P.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 1990
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.1990.tb00221.x
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1748-7692.1990.tb00221.x
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1748-7692.1990.tb00221.x
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Summary:A bstract Quantitative methods are reviewed and compared for determining whether a marine mammal population is at an optimum sustainable population (OSP) level, a management goal specified by the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act. Methods of OSP determination fall into two general types: those that require an estimate of a population's maximum net productivity level ( e.g. , the backā€calculation method) and those that do not ( e.g. , dynamic response analysis). The two types differ in the data they require and in whether they determine OSP with respect to present or historical carrying capacity. Backā€calculation and dynamic response analyses are compared using data on the California gray whale ( Eschrichtius robustus. ) Marine mammal monitoring programs should be designed to detect trends in both the abundance of a population and its condition relative to carrying capacity, because both quantities are involved in the definition of OSP. The value of using both abundance and condition indices in an assessment is illustrated with data on the northern fur seal ( Callorhinus ursinus. )