In tcarruth/MERA: Method Evaluation and Risk Assessment

How to use MERA

MERA has two inputs: a mandatory quantitative questionnaire and optionally, a standardized format for fishery data (Figure r paste(SecInd,FigInd+1,sep=".")). The questionnaire contains a total of 30 questions, 19 regarding the fishery dynamics, 7 questions about the management system and a further 4 about the types and quality of data that are available (see Section 2 for details on all questions).

MERA has four principal models that reflect four ways in which MERA can be used to inform management:

1. Management Planning – determining a suitable management mode

2. Management Performance – evaluating current management mode

3. Risk Assessment – quantifying future biological risk of status quo management

4. Status Determination – calculating stock status.

The first three use the quantitative questionnaire to construct an operating model. If compatible data are loaded, the operating model will be automatically conditioned on those data. The status determination mode requires additional user data to estimate stock status.

Where operating model features are required that are not included in the quantitative questionnaire it may be exported into the R statistical environment, modified and imported back into the MERA software. The R packages DLMtool (Carruthers and Hordyk 2018) and MSEtool (Huynh et al. 2019) are compatible with MERA operating models and include a wide range of tools for modifying these to include custom dynamics such as ontogenetic habitat shifts, fine-scale movement dynamics, time varying movement, temporal changes in growth and natural mortality rate, shifting fleet size selectivity and economic constraints.

FigInd<-FigInd+1

Figure r paste(SecInd,FigInd,sep="."). MERA components and workflow.

A note on skins

MERA includes considerable flexibility on how results of the four use-cases are presented. This is to allow various user groups to obtain results that are pertinent to their application and setting.

For the purpose of this documentation results are presented for a prelminary beta version of the the Marine Stewardship Council skin.

tcarruth/MERA documentation built on Jan. 29, 2021, 3:15 a.m.