NOAA Fisheries Integrated Toolbox
Tool: Stock Synthesis (SS3)
Authors
R. Methot, C. Wetzel, I. Taylor, N. Schindler, K. Doering, and E. Perl
Description
Stock Synthesis (SS3) is an age- and size-structured assessment model in the class of models termed integrated analysis models. SS3 has a population sub-model that simulates a stock’s growth, movement, and mortality processes; an observation sub-model estimates expected values for various types of data; a statistical sub-model characterizes the data’s goodness of fit and obtains best-fitting parameters with associated variance; and a forecast sub-model projects needed management quantities. SS3 outputs the quantities, with confidence intervals, needed to implement risk-averse fishery control rules. The model is coded in C++ with parameter estimation enabled by automatic differentiation (www.admb-project.org). Windows, Linux, and iOS versions are available. Output processing and associated tools are in R, and a graphical interface is in QT. The rich feature set in SS3 allows it to be configured for a wide range of situations and it has become the basis for a large fraction of U.S. assessments and many other assessments around the world.
References
- ADMB reference: Fournier, D.A., Skaug, H.J., Ancheta, J., Ianelli, J., Magnusson, A., Maunder, M.N., Nielsen, A., and Sibert, J. 2012. AD Model Builder: using automatic differentiation for statistical inference of highly parameterized complex nonlinear models. Optim. Methods Softw. 27:233-249.
Associated Tools
Citation
Methot, R. D., & Wetzel, C. R. (2013). Stock synthesis: A biological and statistical framework for fish stock assessment and fishery management. Fisheries Research, 142, 86–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2012.10.012
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Keywords
- Stock Assessment Model
- Age Structured Model
- Length Structured Model
- ADMB
- Guided User Interface