FISH 504

Quantitative Analysis of Fisheries I

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Schedule: Term 2, 2026

Description: This course provides an introduction to the quantitative theories of fishery dynamics, and the use of various analytics methods for fishery assessment. Lectures are supplemented with tutorial sessions, mainly using Microsoft Excel; students will first work on set problems in class, followed by extended analysis to consolidate their understanding and familiarity with these methods.

Class content will include: mathematical models to represent population dynamics, fish growth, mortality and recruitment; simple bio-economic and spatial models of fishery and fish population behaviours; methods to estimate parameters in fisheries models using biological data, fishery data, fishery-independent data, and mark-recapture data; different stock assessment methods including, in-season depletion methods, surplus production methods, delay-difference models, virtual population analysis, and statistical catch-at-age analysis. 

Microsoft Excel tools, including Solver, Data Analysis Tools, and the Data Table function, will be applied extensively in tutorial sessions.

Please contact the course instructor with questions or concerns regarding Microsoft Excel before classes start.

Textbook and Materials:

• Fisheries Ecology and Management by Walters and Martell
• Quantitative Fisheries Stock Assessment: Choice, Dynamics and Uncertainty by Ray Hilborn and Carl Walters. Chapman and Hall.

Course Instructor: Dr. Murdoch McAllister