DOI: 10.5061/dryad.q2bvq83zv
title: Data from: Comparing alternative harvest strategies to address robustness to recruitment variability and uncertainty: Implications for Alaska Sablefish tested with management strategy evaluation

description: Developing robust fisheries management strategies for exploited fish
 stocks is imperative amid rapid ecosystem changes. In Alaska, sablefish
 (Anoplopoma fimbria) have recently experienced several large recruitment
 events, resulting in rapid population growth and a concomitant increase in
 catch of small, low value fish. Current management may not ensure
 long-term economic stability nor maintain the age structure diversity
 necessary for population resilience. Using a management strategy
 evaluation (MSE) framework, we assessed alternative management strategies
 under random, regime-like, and recruitment-failure scenarios. Data
 includes raw simulation output from 200, 75-year long, MSE simulations for
 all combinations of 10 harvest control rules and 4 recruitment
 scenarios. Strategies that substantially reduced fishing
 mortality improved stock size and age diversity. Catch stability
 constraint strategies provided minimal long-term benefits and increased
 risk during recruitment collapses, although they slightly accelerated
 population recovery times. Harvest caps maintained higher population
 sizes, promoted moderate, consistent catches, and modestly expanded
 population age structure. However, no strategy prevented population
 declines under prolonged recruitment failure. Results underscore the
 importance of refining harvest control rules to better balance catch and
 population stability.
description: # Data from: Comparing alternative harvest strategies to address
 robustness to recruitment variability and uncertainty: Implications for
 Alaska Sablefish tested with management strategy evaluation Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.q2bvq83zv](10.5061/dryad.q2bvq83zv) ## Description of the
 data and file structure This data is generated from an management strategy
 evaluation (MSE) closed-loop simulation model, built for analyzing the
 performance of the Alaska Sablefish fishery when managed under 10
 different harvest control rule policies, across 4 different future
 recruitment scenarios. ### Files and variables #### File:
 zahneretal2025_mseruns_FINAL2.RDS **Description:** Final MSE output data.
 Data is formatted as an R list object, where each list object corresponds
 to a single MSE simulation run (1 combination of HCR and OM scenario).
 Within each list object are the following array objects: * land_caa:
 landed catch-at-age (in units of mt) * disc_caa: discarded catch-at-age
 (in units of mt) * caa: total catch-at-age (landed + discarded)  * naa:
 numbers-at-age * naa_est: estimated numbers-at-age  * faa: fishing
 mortality-at-age (as an instantaneous annual rate) * faa_est: estimated
 fishing mortality-at-age * abc: allowable biological catch, the HCR
 recommended catch level (in units of mt) * tac: total allowable catch
 (equivalent to abc, in units of mt) * exp_land: expected landings
 (equivalent to tac and abc, in units of mt) * hcr_f: the HCR recommended
 total fishing mortality rate * out_f: total annual fishing mortality *
 global_rec_devs: recruitment deviations around stock recruit curve where
 applicable ## Code/software This data was generated using the SablefishMSE
 R package, available on Github
 ([doi:10.5281/zenodo.17081421](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17081421)).
 The package is designed to readily install as a traditional GitHub-based R
 package would. The script located at dev/zahneretal-2025-mseruns.r is able
 to replicate the data available here.