Data preparation to inform assessment and management approaches in data-limited fisheries

Book excerpt: In fisheries science and management, it is not uncommon that fishery data are used at “face value”, as inputs into data-limited assessments or empirical indicator-based frameworks for management, without first conducting a thorough exploration and critical review of the data. [Author] This practice may lead to biases in results and misdirected fishery management actions. [Author] To address intermediate steps between data collection and any analysis used to inform stock status, this manual provides guidance on how to prepare, explore and critically review fishery data in data-limited situations. [Author] Throughout the manual, guidance and sample data are provided primarily in Microsoft Excel or in comma separated value (CSV) file formats, as well as through FishualizeR, a publicly available, web-based, R Shiny app that was developed to support the manual. [Author] Instructions in this manual are not intended to present a single, prescriptive path, but rather to provide guidance that may be further tailored to each individual context. [Author] It is the authors’ hope and intent that the guidance contained in this manual will allow users to better understand their data, make corrections, and gain a deeper understanding of the data’s utility in assessment and management of data-limited fisheries. [Author]