Scientific parameterization and its validation: comparing the universal models of fisheries economics with the invalid modeling of stock assessment

Christopher J. Corkett, Biology Department, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4J1, Canada; Tel: 902-445-3964; E-mail: chris.corkett@dal.ca Abstract Here I compare the valid parameterization of fisheries economics with the data-fitted parameters of a stock assessment’s modeling, invalid models whose predictions cannot be falsified (which is another way of saying the models are not universal). The distinction between (a) a model’s valid universal prediction and (b) a model’s invalid prediction that cannot be falsified can be summarized in terms of a model’s parameterization, as: