Stock identification and its role in stock assessment and fisheries management: an overview

A symposium on "Stock Identification - its Role in Stock Assessment and Fisheries Management" was held as part of the 128th annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society (AFS), Hartford, Connecticut, USA, 23-27 August 1998, to summarize the current state of knowledge of stock identification issues, problems and methodologies, as well as to identify future directions for stock identification research. With today's, growing emphasis on stock assessment, this symposium was a timely reminder of the need to identify fish stocks accurately, and the implications of stock identification for fisheries management. The symposium was structured into four general themes: (1) the stock concept; (2) genetic variation; (3) phenotypic variation; and (4) fisheries management. We review the presentations given in each theme session, which form the basis of the proceedings presented in this issue, as well as providing an overview of current issues and directions in stock identification research. We hope that the overall proceedings constitute a text helpful in these directions, useful in the classroom, laboratory, and field. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.