Estimating Consumption to Biomass Ratio in Non-Stationary Harvested Fish Populations

PLoS One. 2015 Nov 3;10(11):e0141538. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0141538. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

The food consumption to biomass ratio (C) is one of the most important population parameters in ecosystem modelling because its quantifies the interactions between predator and prey. Existing models for estimating C in fish populations are per-recruit cohort models or empirical models, valid only for stationary populations. Moreover, empirical models lack theoretical support. Here we develop a theory and derive a general modelling framework to estimate C in fish populations, based on length frequency data and the generalised von Bertalanffy growth function, in which models for stationary populations with a stable-age distributions are special cases. Estimates using our method are compared with estimates from per-recruit cohort models for C using simulated harvested fish populations of different lifespans. The models proposed here are also applied to three fish populations that are targets of commercial fisheries in southern Chile. Uncertainty in the estimation of C was evaluated using a resampling approach. Simulations showed that stationary and non-stationary population models produce different estimates for C and those differences depend on the lifespan, fishing mortality and recruitment variations. Estimates of C using the new model exhibited smoother inter-annual variation in comparison with a per-recruit model estimates and they were also smaller than C predicted by the empirical equations in all population assessed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biomass*
  • Fisheries*
  • Fishes*
  • Models, Biological*
  • Population Dynamics

Grants and funding

Rodrigo Wiff was funded by CONICYT (Chile) scholarship for postgraduate studies abroad (“Beca Presidente de la Republica para Estudios de Postgrado en el Extranjero”), CONICYT/FONDECYT post-doctoral project number 3130425 and by CAPES Project Conicyt FB 0002 (2014). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.