NCDMF Glossary of Fisheries Terms



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s - See survival rate.

SAFE - See stock assessment and fishery evaluation report.

SEFC - See Southeast Fisheries Center.

SPR - See spawning potential ratio.

SSBR - See spawning stock biomass per recruit.

SSC - See scientific and statistical advisory committee.

Scattergram - A graph that shows how factors relate to each other. This is visual, not statistical, and is used when it is necessary to compare two factors, like fish age and size.

Scientific Assessment Panel - A group of biologists, economists, and sociologists put together by a federal fishery management council to review scientific data on the condition of a stock of fish and the interests of the fishermen and seafood processors who use the stock. Panel members generally come from universities and state and federal fisheries agencies.

Scientific and Statistical Advisory Committee - A group of scientific and technical people giving advice to a council.

Secretarial Management Plan - A term used to describe a plan developed by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce in response to an emergency, a council’s failure to act, *or for highly migratory species.

Selectivity - The ability of a type of gear to catch a certain size or kind of fish, compared with its ability to catch other sizes or kinds.

Simulation - An analysis that shows the production and harvest of fish using a group of equations to represent the fishery. It can be used to predict events in the fishery if certain factors changed.

Size Distribution - A breakdown of the number of fish of various sizes in a sample or catch. The sizes can be in length or weight. This is mot often shown on a chart.

*Shellfish - General term for crustaceans and mollusks.

Slot Limit - A limit on the size of fish that may be kept. Allows a harvester to keep fish under a minimum size and over a maximum size, but not those in between the minimum and maximum. *Can also refer to size limits that allow a harvester to keep only fish that fall between a minimum and maximum size.

Social Impacts - The changes in people, families, and communities resulting from a fishery management decision.

Socioeconomics - A word used to identify the importance of factors other than biology in fishery management decisions. For example, if management results in more fishing income, it is important to know how the income is distributed between small and large boats or part-time and full-time fishermen.

Southeast Fisheries Center (SEFC) - Headquarters for the scientific staff of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico states. The center is located in Miami, Florida, with smaller laboratories at several other locations.

Spawner-Recruit Relationship - The concept that the number of young fish (recruits) entering a population is related to the number of parent fish (spawners).

Spawning Potential Ration (SPR) - *The number of eggs that could be produced by an average recruit in a fished stock divided by the number of eggs that could be produced by an average recruit in an unfished stock. SPR can also be expressed at the spawning stock biomass per recruit (SSBR) of a fished stock divided by the SSBR of the stock before it was fished.

Spawning Stock Biomass - The total weight of the fish in a stock that are old enough to spawn.

Spawning Stock Biomass Per Recruit (SSBR) - *The spawning stock biomass divided by the number of recruits to the stock or how much spawning biomass an average recruit would be expected to produce.

Species - A group of similar fish that can freely interbreed.

Sport Fishery - See recreational fishery.

*Added by Wallace et al.

Standard Length - The length of a fish as measured from the tip of the snout to the hidden base of the tail fin rays.

Standing Stock - See biomass.

Stock - A grouping of fish usually based on genetic relationship, geographic distribution, and movement patterns. *Also a manageed unit of fish.

Stock Assessment Group - A group of scientists, skilled in the study of fish population dynamics put together by a federal fishery management council to review the scientific data on the condition of a stock of fish. The scientists generally come from universities and state and federal fisheries agencies.

Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Report (SAFE) - A report that provides a summary of the most recent biological condition of a stock of fish and the economic and social condition of the recreational fishermen, commercial fishermen, and seafood processors who use the fish. The report provides information to the federal fishery management councils for determining the harvest levels.

Stock-Recruit Relationship - See spawner-recruit relationship.

Stressed Area - An area in which there is special concern regarding harvest, perhaps because the fish are small or because harvesters are in conflict.

Surplus Production Model - A model that estimates the catch in a given year and the change in stock size. The stock size could increase or decrease depending on new recruits and natural mortality. A surplus production model estimates the natural increase in fish weight or the sustainable yield.

Survival Rate(s) - The number of fish alive after a specified time, divided by the number alive at the beginning of the period.

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