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How are FishSource profiles named?

Profiles on FishSource are based on a single biological stock unit (an intraspecific group of randomly mating individuals with temporal and spatial integrity – Ihssen et al., 1981) of a single species, as determined by genetic, phenotype, growth or other population parameter, parasite or tagging studies. See Sparre & Venema, 1998 for a more detailed description of the stock concept.

The general rule for naming profiles is:

“Species name – stock unit (fishery specification if applicable)”;

The first part of the profile name is the species name. As a rule, the FAO English name is adopted (Check the FAO ASFIS List of Species for Fishery Statistics Purposes web page. As examples, the FAO name for Parapercis colias is New Zealand blue cod; for Penaeus merguiensis is Banana prawn; and for Trachurus trachurus is Atlantic horse mackerel.

The second part describes the stock unit. This is generally the name given by managers or stock assessment scientists with a further descriptor of location if necessary. E.g.: “Silver hake – US Atlantic coast northern” is just called “northern stock” by managers. If the stock structure is not known or if units are defined purely for management purposes the stock unit is labelled “Stock units undefined”. In this case, the fishing country or general area is added in brackets if needed to refine the location of the fishery, e.g. “Orange roughy – stock units undefined (Australia)”. The stock unit may be omitted when it is redundant, as in endemic species whose FAO name describes the stock location, e.g. “Peruvian anchovy”; “North Pacific hake”.

Besides the stock-based profiles there are fishery-based profiles, nested within the stock-based profiles, when only a part of the stock is addressed (“Mother” and “child” profiles). An example are those profiles associated with fisheries in the MSC evaluation system (either in assessment or certified). Brackets are also used in this case to further specify what the “child” profile addresses, specifically, the country(ies) whose jurisdiction the fishery is in and the fishing gear(s) used.

MSC “child” profiles also add to the above information in brackets the MSC client (fishers’ organization) and the MSC status – “MSC-FA” (full assessment), “MSC-C” (certified). For example: “Albacore – North Pacific (usa; lhm, ltl, jig; awfbo; msc-c)”; “Alaska pollock – Aleutian Islands (usa; tm; aspa; msc-c)”.

To see what the acronyms stand for please tick the “Highlight acronyms” box in the top right corner of the page.

References:

Ihssen, P.E., H.E. Booke, J.M. Casselman, J.M. McGlade, N.R. Payne and F.M. Utter, 1981. Stock identification: materials and methods. Can.J.Fish.Aquat.Sci., 38(12):1838-1855.

Sparre, P. and S.C. Venema, 1998. Introduction to tropical fish stock assessment – Part 1: Manual. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 306/1 Rev.2. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/docrep/W5449e/w5449e00.htm#Contents