General Stock Assessment Information

Population assessments are a key component of marine resource management. These assessments allow us to evaluate and report the status of managed fisheries, marine mammals, and endangered/threatened species under the authorities of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Endangered Species Act.

The Fisheries Integrated Modeling System is a next-generation framework of fisheries stock assessment models, assisting fishery managers with the goal of achieving sustainable fisheries. This initiative is currently underway at NOAA Fisheries. When completed in a few years, FIMS will offer the NOAA Fisheries and global fisheries science communities an advanced set of stock assessment models. These tools can be used separately or in combination to incorporate ecosystem and socioeconomic data and models, as well as climate effects and other drivers within the marine environment, into stock assessment models. For more information and resources on the advancement of stock assessment science, visit the CAPAM site.

For more information about stock assessment science and how it is used to manage fisheries, see both the NOAA population assessments 101 and the NOAA council member trainings.