Co-Convenors: Jin-Yeong
Kim (Korea), Paul Spencer (U.S.A.) and Chang Ik Zhang (Korea)
Recent research has demonstrated several complexities
in the reproductive processes of marine fish. First, for some cod and
rockfish stocks there is evidence of a maternal effect upon larval quality
such that larval viability increases with spawner age. Second, some
iteroparous stocks show evidence of skipped spawning (i.e., not all
mature fish spawn in each year) that is related to environmental conditions
and the life-history of the stock. Third, temporal changes in age at
reproduction have occurred for some exploited stocks, and researchers
are attempting to attribute this pattern to some combination of (1)
demographic changes in age and size structure; (2) plastic responses
to a changing environment; or (3) evolutionary responses to selective
pressures. These complexities indicate that the production of reproductive
output of marine stocks may be more complex than typically assumed in
population models, and researchers are beginning to more fully incorporate
reproductive biology in assessment procedures. The purpose of this session
is to review field, laboratory, and modeling studies that may reveal
how oceanographic variability, life-history pattern, and fishing pressure
may affect the reproductive biology for North Pacific fish stocks, and
consider how reproductive biology can best be incorporated into fishery
assessment and management.