SEDAR 8 RD-26: Performance indices that facilitate informed, valuedriven decision making in fisheries management. 2004. Bull. Mar. Sci 74(3) 709-726

This paper develops and explores the use of five indices representing resiliency, yield productivity, yield constancy, capacity constancy, and ecosystem productivity to evaluate natural-resource management alternatives. Too frequently, managers and their scientific advisors have miscommunications because managers want simple answers to complicated questions and scientists are uncomfortable providing information that might seem value-laden. Indices can give managers a framework within which to ask for scientific advice and scientists a mechanism for presenting likely consequences of management decisions without favoring particular values. Five quantitative indices representing common fishery management objectives are developed, and their use is illustrated through tests of various control rules in simple simulated-population models. The results provide an example of how to meld societal values with scientific analyses in the policy arena. They also give insight into the effectiveness of various control rules and highlight better alternatives to current practices. The benefits of such an approach extend well beyond fisheries management. Many natural-resource policy processes share the characteristics that make the use of multiple performance indices valuable, including unpredictability, complexity, and diversity of opinion.

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