Design Craftsmen and the HMSC physical plant staff are to be commended for a beautifully done project. In the Spring 1998 issue of The Oregon Scientist , Dave Sampson likens the current state of knowledge about Pacific groundfish stocks to driving an automobile in reverse with no rearview mirror. The article's theme is that there may never be an accurate way to measure the number of fish in the world's oceans. Fishermen have long complained that stock assessmentthe means of estimating how many fish are available for harvest in a given seasonfail to accurately describe how many fish are actually in the ocean. Sampson says that to a degree, the fishermen have a point.
Stock assessment is a relatively young science in the Pacific.
The first assessment survey was conducted in 1979, with updates every three years since. The most common source of assessment data, the survey, typically involves using trawl gear to sample randomly selected reaches of ocean, and counting and weighing the fish that are caught. Pot surveys, by contrast, set traps to catch the fish in various locations. Scientists also use hydroacoustic gear to bounce sound waves off schools of whiting and determine the fish population by measuring the echoes that bounce back. While agencies and some lawmakers are calling for more money to support more frequent stock assessments, Sampson isn't sure the information that results will tell much more than is known today.