Beverton-Holt Model
In 1957, Beverton-Holt came out with a graph of fish recruitment vs stock. What was the source of their data and is the paper that introduced this graph available?
**The 1957 Beverton–Holt work introducing the asymptotic stock–recruitment relationship (and associated graphs/curves) is from their monograph *On the Dynamics of Exploited Fish Populations* (Fishery Investigations, Series II, Volume 19, H.M. Stationery Office / UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; 533 pages). (LINK)
The primary empirical focus for the stock–recruitment discussion and illustrations was the **North Sea (British waters) plaice (*Pleuronectes platessa*) fishery**. Beverton and Holt analyzed data from this heavily studied stock (including references to year-class/egg-production information spanning multiple years; one later secondary source notes examination of about 16 year classes). They noted limited or no clear simple correlation between egg/stock numbers and subsequent recruitment in the available data, but still developed the asymptotic functional form theoretically from density-dependent early-life mortality considerations (recruitment approaching a plateau at high stock sizes). The model was presented in the context of their broader dynamic-pool/yield-per-recruit framework applied to plaice (and other stocks). (LINK)
The original 1957 HMSO publication is a classic technical monograph (not a short journal paper). Facsimile reprints are widely available, including the 1993 Chapman & Hall / Springer “Fish and Fisheries Series” edition (with a foreword by Daniel Pauly in some printings). Full PDFs or digitized versions can be found via academic libraries, SpringerLink, Google Books previews, archive.org searches, research repositories, or fisheri es literature collections; the original is public-domain or freely shareable in many contexts due to its age and government origin, though access may depend on institutional subscriptions or purchase of the reprint. (LINK)
In short: data primarily from North Sea plaice; the introducing source is the 1957 monograph itself (still obtainable via reprints).