Recruitment : Theory, Estimation, and Application in Fishery Stock Assessment Models

The Center for the Advancement of Population Assessment Methodology (CAPAM) hosted a technical workshop on Recruitment: theory, estimation, and application in fishery stock assessment models in Miami, Florida, USA, from 30 October to 3 November 2017. The recruitment workshop was the fourth in a series organized by CAPAM as part of its Good Practices in Stock Assessment Modeling Program for improving fishery stock assessments. The workshop was sponsored by NOAA and the University of Miami via the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Science (CIMAS). The primary goal of the workshop was to provide advice and guidance on practices for modeling recruitment in fishery assessments. The focus was on model specification, parameter estimation, and management consequences. The five-day forum included an interactive modeling session, six keynote addresses, and 30 research presentations; discussions focused on major topics, from describing mechanistic properties of recruitment to time series modeling and management implications. Ninety-five attendees registered, and an average of 20 people were online at any given time. A special issue in the journal Fisheries Research finalized in March 2019 features articles from the workshop. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions made during the workshop. As such, it represents the general views of the editors, rather than any achieved consensus set of recommendations. Several important research topics on recruitment are identified to guide further research, along with recommended practices to consider when developing stock assessment models.