Fisheries Science & Management

NRS349 Fall, 2010 Syllabus

Description: A study of exploited populations of fish and other aquatic organisms. Theory and methods of defining fish growth, survival, mortality, abundance, and community interactions will be emphasized. Wisconsin, Great Lakes, and marine fisheries will be addressed. Pre-requisite BIO234. 4 Credits At the end of this class you will be able to ... 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Explain a conceptual model for the population dynamics of a stock. Develop and apply length-weight relations. Compute and interpret size structure indices. Compute and interpret condition indices. Estimate abundance from mark-recapture data. Estimate mortality from catch-at-age data. Estimate growth from length-at-age data. Fit stock-recruitment curves. Describe the components of the fisheries management environment and the relationships between those components. 10. Describe the steps in and components of the fisheries management process. 11. Describe how the concept of common property influences the behavior of fishers. 12. Explain the purposes, strengths and limitations for a variety of management tools (including length limits, bag limits, closed seasons, refuges, stocking, ITQs, and catch shares). Location: Time: Instructor: Contact: Office Hours: Center for the Science and Environment, Room 236 MTW 1200-1250; T 0700-1050 Dr. Derek H. Ogle CSE239; 682-1300; dogle@northland.edu MWF 1300-1350 or by appointment

Outcomes:

Web Page: www.ncfaculty.net/dogle/ then select Fisheries Science & Management. Communication: All class-related communication from me will be distributed to you via your Northland e-mail. Textbook: There is no text for this course. Instead, I will provide PDF documents that, taken as a whole, will serve as readings for the topics of this course. These documents will be made available for download on the class web page. I expect that you will read the materials provided. We will use computers extensively in this class. Thus, you will need a computer account to use the Northland computer labs. All homework problems and reports must be typed, in LaTeX, Lyx, or MSWord. In addition, we will analyze fisheries data using the R statistical language. R can be installed on your personal computer by downloading (for free) the installation file from the R Resources for Northland College link on the class webpage. You will also need the NCStats, FSAdata, and FSA packages (from R Resources webpage) and all packages that they depend on (from CRAN). See the R FAQ page for more information on how to acquire and install R and the required packages. Note that when using R on your personal computer it works best with (but does not require) an internet connection. Students in need of academic or medical accommodation should contact Patti Fenner-Leino, Disabilities Coordinator, ext. 1230, Ponzio Center Rm. 229, pfen-lei@northland.edu.

Computing:

Accommodations:

Grading:

An overall percentage score will be determined by computing a weighted average of scores from the following assessments and weights: Exams ...................................................... 40% Analytical Portfolio ................................. 25% Management Paper and Presentation ... 25% Participation ........................................... 10% Final letter grades will be assigned according to 90/80/70/60 cut-offs for A/B/C/D.

Participation:

Learning mathematics requires participation you will not learn mathematics if you do not try to engage the material. Thus, I expect you to attend class and to participate in class activities taking notes, asking questions, working in small groups, etc. Your participation percentage will be reduced by 2.5% for each unexcused day of class that you miss. I will also reduce your participation percentage for egregious non-participation (sleeping, obviously not paying attention, habitual tardiness, etc.) or being unprepared (not reading assigned material, not being prepared for field experiences, etc.). The following topics will be introduced through lectures over the course of the semester: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Size structure (length frequency and PSD/RSD). Body condition (length-weight relations and relative weight). Abundance estimates from mark-recapture data. Mortality estimates from catch-at-age data. Growth estimates from length-at-age data. Fitting stock-recruit models.

Analytical Portfolio

Each topic will have at least one homework problem assigned that uses real data. The specifics of this problem will be described when it is assigned. In addition, a date will be given when the completed problem will be handed in for an initial grading. Upon return from me you can choose to re-work the problem based on my comments. Your final work (along with your initial work) will then be put in a portfolio that will be due on Monday, December 14th. I will then grade (or re-grade) each item in this portfolio. It should be noted that you must turn in a completed assignment initially in order to earn any credit in the portfolio and I will not grade your completed problem initially if it is not apparent that you have fully attempted to do the work. I will not accept assignments handed in after the day they are due. Honesty: It is expected that your portfolios will consist of your work and your work only. As such, you should include the following statement along with your signature I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in completing this work, nor have I presented someone elses work as my own. on your portfolios. Unauthorized aid includes excessive collaboration with other students, either in the current class or not. Excessive collaboration includes copying, following others direction, and being told what to do. If I suspect that you and another person are working too closely together on assignments then you will each receive a verbal warning for the first such suggestion and then each of you will receive no credit for each subsequent offending assignment. If I can confirm that you and another person excessively collaborated on an assignment then each of you will receive no credit for that assignment, even if it is the first such offense.

Level:

This course is a 300-level science course. As such you are expected to complete assignments in a mature, concise, and complete way. I expect that you know what this means by this stage of your career but the items below provide direct statements of what I expect of you.
1) 2) 3) You will read the readings. Part of being a scientist is being able to extract direction from written materials. You will answer the questions that I ask. For example, if the question asks you to comment on the steepness of the slope, the initial cpe, and shape of the model then I expect to see answers to all three of these items. You will reflect on knowledge or expectations from previous questions on subsequent questions. For example, if the first question asks what happens to the Leslie model and lists in parentheses what that means then every other time you are asked what happens to the Leslie model you will perform the same items listed in parentheses. As another example, if question 6.3 explains that you should use the q factor slider to model a changing catchability between removal events then you will know in question 6.5, when you are asked to model a changing catchability between removal events, that you will use the q factor slider. You will, as scientists do, speak explicitly. For example, If mortality is included in the model then q and No are not estimated very accurately at all is not an explicit statement. The inaccuracy needs to be stated explicitly If mortality is included in the model then q is overestimated and No is underestimated. As another example, it appears that there isnt a bias is not explicit. A better statement is it appears that there is not a bias in q because the mean of q for the many samples (green line in Figure 2) is nearly equal to the true value of q (red line in Figure 2) is much better. As another example, the q and No are related is not explicit. A better answer is that the estimated catchability coefficient (q) and estimated initial population size (No) are inversely related as evident by the negative relationship shown in Figure 3. Do not use it. The use of it in a sentence is generally not explicit. For example, it changed dramatically is not a useful construction. What is it replace it with what it is. Very few of us write accurately enough to make it clear what it is, so just put what it is into the sentence. You will, as scientists do, speak exactly. For example, the distribution is normal is not an exact statement when examining a histogram. The distribution appears to be approximately normal may be a correct statement. Your will defend your statements. For example, The initial cpe increases is not a defended statement. Rather The initial cpe increases as can be seen by the relatively higher left-hand-side of the blue line in Figure 2 compared to the gray line is a defended statement. Scientific results are based on evidence not faith. You will not create statements that clearly rely on results that are not shown. In other words, if you say the line is steeper then there better be a figure referred to and presented in your write-up. You will label figures (beneath the figure) and tables (above the table) with appropriate labels. For example, Figure 2. Increasing level of q is not an appropriate label. This label does not say what model you are using (Leslie), what q was increased to, etc. You will proofread and spell-check your document. Handing in poorly stated document full of misspellings, poor grammar, etc. is disrespectful to me and makes you look unprofessional (scientists speak carefully and in exact terms). When you graduate from Northland you will be expected to write clearly but more importantly you will need to demonstrate that you can pay attention to detail. If you need help with writing then you may want to see a writing tutor. I will not accept assignments that are clearly not proofread. You will use complete sentences to answer a question. For example, 71 is not a correct answer. A better answer is The total number of fish in the sample is 71. These sentences are good practice for you and, more importantly, they, when coupled with statements of evidence (see #8) will make it easier for you to understand what you did. You will not ramble. Scientists answer questions succinctly. I do not want to see every thought that you had about a question. Sort through your thoughts and put your final answer. Students tend to ramble because they are throwing darts hoping that at least one of their answers is correct. If you have questions about what the question is about then ask me. You are expected to ask questions of me. I make myself available throughout the day and via e-mail in the evenings and on the weekends. I will answer your questions. You will use scientific names. The scientific names of organisms should be used when the species common name is first mentioned in the writing. The scientific name is not use after the first mention. Common names will not be capitalized. Unless it is at the beginning of a sentence the common names of animals should be printed in lower case e.g., largemouth bass, not Largemouth Bass. Some exceptions are if the name contains a word that would otherwise be capitalized e.g., Caspian carp or Eurasian watermilfoil. You will not use the word since unless you are referring to time. It is common in everyday language to use the word since in place of because e.g., since it is cloudy and thundering it is likely to rain. The word since should be reserved for when referring to time e.g., since yesterday it has rained 1 inch. The word because is reserved for when an explanation is being offered e.g., it rained because a cold front came through the area.

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