Indirect estimates of natural mortality rate for arrowtooth fl ounder (Atheresthes stomias) and darkblotched rockfi sh (Sebastes crameri)

Indirect estimates of instantaneous natural mortality rate (M) are widely used in stock assessment and fi sheries management. They are essentially a form of meta-analysis, in which prior information on M and key life history parameters from a variety of stocks is used to estimate M for the stock in question. In this study we report indirect estimates of M for arrowtooth fl ounder (Atheresthes stomias) and darkblotched rockfi sh (Sebastes crameri) obtained by the methods described in Gunderson (1997), and a modifi cation of Pauly’s method (1980), and compare them with estimates previously derived by Hoenig’s (1983) method. Pauly’s original method was based on the correlation of M with von Bertalanffy growth parameters (K and L∞) and temperature. The modifi cation we used was indicated by a number of reviews of Pauly’s data (Charnov, 1993; Pascual and Iribarne, 1993; Jensen, 1996) and relies only on the correlation between M and K. The high correlation between these variables has been observed in a number of taxa and is the basis for the M–K “invariIndirect estimates of natural mortality rate for arrowtooth fl ounder (Atheresthes stomias) and darkblotched rockfi sh (Sebastes crameri)