Glossary of Fishery Terms - V

V

• Vertebrates - animals with a backbone, including fish (sharks, rays and bony fish), amphibians, reptiles and mammals. See also invertebrates.

• Virtual population analysis (VPA) - an analysis of fish population numbers that uses the number of fish caught at various ages or lengths and an estimate of natural mortality to estimate fishing mortality in a cohort. It also provides a back estimate of the number of fish in a cohort at various ages.

• Vulnerable species - a species which is likely to become an endangered species unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve.