Stock assessment analyses on Gulf of Mexico King mackerel

"Since 1985 the Mackerel Stock Assessment Panel (MSAP) has met annually to review the status of mackerel and other coastal pelagic stocks within the jurisdiction of the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils and to recommend Acceptable Biological Catches (ABC's) for mackerels. The most recent full assessment of the Gulf king mackerel migratory group was on April 2000 (Legault et al. 2000). This document provides: updated baseline analyses considering catch and effort through 2001, comparison of evaluation results with the prior assessment, and measures of uncertainty in the results for the MSAP to use in advising the Gulf Council of resource risk for the Gulf of Mexico king mackerel migratory group under different levels of catch for the 2002 management season. The report is organized into sections dealing with discussions of the catch, biological characteristics, indices, and assessment methods and results. Emphasis in the presentation is on changes in data and methodology from those used in year 2000. Comparison of the 2000 and 2002 results are presented for discussion. Based on prior history, further exploration by the Mackerel Stock Assessment Panel is expected at the panel meeting in order to build up on the record of MSAP reports and supporting documentation provided since 1985"--Page 1. prepared for 2002 Mackerel Stock Assessment Panel Meeting by Mauricio Ortiz, Gerald P. Scott, Nancie Cummings, Patty Phares. "May 2002." "Not to be distributed without accompanying Panel report." "MSAP/02/01." System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Includes bibliographical references (page 14).