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Resource Assessment

The first step in implementing a new resource management programme often entails a comprehensive characterization of the resource base. MRAG's focus on integrated resource management encourages consideration of the physical, biological, technical, social, economic, and institutional elements of resource utilization. The Group has built up considerable in-house expertise amongst the three MRAG companies in biological and economic resource assessment and has several world-renowned assessment scientists on staff.

MRAG has undertaken assessments on a diverse range of living resources from fish, crustacean, and mollusc species to terrestrial livestock. Assessments have been conducted on resources of all sizes: from small tropical island fisheries in the Pacific and Caribbean, where catches are measured in a few hundred tons and vessels number less than a hundred, to industrial operations where catches exceed 2,000,000 tons, and extensive inshore and floodplain fisheries, with an excess of 1,000,000 fishers and 10,000 mechanized artisanal vessels.

Resource assessment relies on the collection of reliable data. MRAG has participated in the design and implementation of industrial and artisanal fisheries data collection programmes in over 30 countries. Comprehensive services are also provided for fishery resource surveys including arrangements for vessel charter, survey design, recruitment of scientific personnel, equipment procurement, data analysis, preparation of scientific reports and full logistical support.