Empirical and theoretical analyses of correction of time-series bias in stock-recruitment relationships of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka)

Using data from 30 sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) stocks and Monte Carlo simulations, we examined the importance of time-series bias on estimates of optimal harvest rate, optimal escapement, and sustainable yield. We compared the performance of the least-squares procedure for fitting a Ricker curve with an existing bias-correction method. Simulations showed that the effect of time-series bias is greatest for low-productivity stocks that exhibit a high degree of autocorrelation among residuals of the stock-recruitment relationship. A strong inverse empirical relationship between autocorrelation and stock productivity among the 30 stocks suggests that time-series bias is a more important concern for low-productivity northern stocks than for more productive southern stocks. The corrected method reduced bias in optimal escapement estimates under a limited set of conditions but at the price of increased variance in the estimates. For a constant escapement goal policy, using the bias correction thus result...

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