Last modified: 31 May 2022 13:05
The course, which includes a significant contribution from Marine Scotland’s Science’s Marine Laboratory Aberdeen, introduces students to the essential elements of fisheries science. It consists of three main sections: fishing technology and behaviour, fishery independent methods, and stock assessment techniques. Ultimately it will equip students with the basic knowledge and skills required to assess the abundance and distribution of fish and to understand key elements of the provision of advice for fisheries management.
| Study Type | Postgraduate | Level | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | Second Term | Credit Points | 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
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The course, which includes a significant contribution from Marine Scotland’s Science’s Marine Laboratory Aberdeen, introduces students to the essential elements of fisheries science. It consists of three main sections: fishing technology and behaviour, fishery independent methods, and stock assessment techniques. Ultimately it will equip students with the basic knowledge and skills required to assess the abundance and distribution of fish and to understand key elements of the provision of advice for fisheries management.
The first part covers the various types of fishing methods, as well as measurement and observation in fishing gear experiments. Various behavioural concepts are covered including swimming and fish sensory systems. The concept of selectivity is described in theoretical detail and is then followed by a description of the various selectivity techniques and a review of unaccounted mortality.
The second part covers fishery independent (survey) methods, with emphasis on the acoustic survey technique. Lectures are given on each of the main survey methods: acoustic, trawl, larvae, egg and TV surveys. The general design concept, relating to all types of survey, is addressed in a lecture and illustrated through a practical as applied to acoustic surveys. Particular attention is then given to the more complex acoustic survey technique. Lectures cover the physics of sound, acoustic instruments, the acoustic properties of fish and methods of biomass estimation. An acoustic survey data analysis lecture is followed by a practical which details the procedures from acoustic measurement to a global estimate of abundance. Lectures are also given covering survey statistics common to all methods, including one on geostatistics.
The final part covers stock assessment introducing students to ideas about analysing fisheries data and applying both classic and modern fisheries science models. The course is based on a series of computer-based practicals which deal with three main concepts: cohort analysis using fisheries data, separable analysis using survey data, and length-based stock assessment. Extensive use will be made of both Excel spreadsheets and (for the first two concepts) the R programming language.
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 50 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
formative feedback during practical, individualised written feedback on submission |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 50 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
individual written feedback on submission |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
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There are no assessments for this course.
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Factual | Understand | to distinguish between types of fishing gear, describe fish capture processes and differentiate between responses of different fish to different gear |
| Conceptual | Evaluate | to distinguish between survey types, employ fishery survey statistics, explain basics of fisheries acoustics and apply principles and methods of stock assessment and fisheries analysis |
| Procedural | Create | design and analyse an acoustic survery |
| Procedural | Apply | write appropriate computer code and utilise R functions in relation to fisheries analysis and stock assessment |
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