A brief account of the USAID funded fish stock assessment collaborative Research Support Program is given, with emphasis on its Philippine module, devoted to empirical analyses, modelling and field studies aimed at improved management of exploited multispecies fish stocks.

The ringnet fishery off Davao, southern Philippines, is briefly described. The major species (36%) in the catch is Decapterus kurroides (Pisces, Carangidae), whose growth parameters and mortality rates (natural and fishing) are estimated, based on length-frequency data collected in 1985-1986 and...

An attempt to fit the von Bertalanffy growth equation to three species of deep sea snappers using the ELEFAN method was unsuccessful, mainly because the fish are slow-growing, long lived species. Problems were also encountered in estimating asymptotic length and Z/K using a Wetherall plot....

Catch assessment estimates for the motorized and non-motorized canoes at Boa-Manga (Cameroon) were found to be 5.13 and 2.70 t/year, respectively, leading to an estimated lower limit for the production of the Ocean division (100 km coastline) of 1190 t/year. The net economic benefit for the...

A time series of catch and effort data (1970-78) of the Ivorian purse seine fishery in Sierra Leone waters was analyzed using the Schaefer production model. The regression of C/f on effort was significant and the resulting estimates of MSY was 14640 tonnes with F msy=1734 boat days.