@article{ben-hasan_walters_christensen_poorten_rajab_al-husaini_al-foudari_2019, title={Predicting changes in mean length with an age-structured stock assessment model}, volume={32}, ISSN={["1939-7445"]}, DOI={10.1111/nrm.12218}, abstractNote={AbstractSeveral studies have shown that mean length is only slightly biased and hence a robust indicator of the total mortality (fishing and natural mortalities). However, these studies use models that typically assume equilibrium conditions and are expected to predict a much stronger relationship between mean length and fishing mortality than would be obtained from a model with more realistic assumptions. Here we predict changes in annual mean length with stochastic stock reduction analysis (SRA)—an age‐structured model—that accounts for recruitment variation around an average stock‐recruitment relationship and time‐varying exploitation rate. We found that SRA‐predicted mean length fluctuates considerably over exploitation rate, as opposed to equilibrium mean length, which consistently declined as exploitation rate climbed. Our finding suggests that the inference obtained from examining the relationship between fishing effects and mean length under equilibrium conditions could be misleading.}, number={4}, journal={NATURAL RESOURCE MODELING}, author={Ben-Hasan, Abdul and Walters, Carl and Christensen, Villy and Poorten, Brett and Rajab, Sarah and Al-Husaini, Mohsen and Al-Foudari, Hussein}, year={2019}, month={Nov} }