ABSTRACT
Natural žsh populations undergo many changes in response to harvesting. These include changes to numbers-at-age, numbers-at-size, total numbers, total biomass, and spatial distributions. While attempting to understand the dynamics of exploited populations žsheries science has naturally developed into using mathematical and statistical descriptions. The underlying assumption is that if it is understood how populations respond to different perturbations, then it should be possible to manage those žsheries toward particular objectives.
