| Catch-per-unit effort (CPUE) has frequently been used as an index of abundance and more specifically to calibrate virtual population analysis (VPA). In multi-species fisheries, CPUE calculated from fishing trips targeting the species seems to be more effective for calibration than the classical ratio total landings/total effort. Target species are determined from an analysis of the composition of catches (landings) of each fishing trip, each trip being categorised as to whether it targets the given species or not. It is obvious that existing but not reported discards would affect these results. Classification of trips can be achieved on a single-species basis, each species being considered successively and each trip possibly being relevant for more than... |
