The debate over catch data stems from an analytical approach that was
pioneered by the FAO, and subsequently developed by others, myself
included. In 1996, FAO researchers devised what became known as a
stock status plot1.For 400 well-studied fisheries, the researchers plotted
catch data over time, and used the slope of the graphs to assign the
stocks to different categories, such as ‘developing’ where catches were
increasing, or ‘senescent’ where catches had collapsed. The resulting
chart was meant to show at a glance how the fisheries had fared since
the 1950s (badly, apparently).