The systematic consideration of a range of biological and fisheries information, each used to provide a measure or proxy for biomass status and levels of fishing mortality, to support a status determination. Lines of evidence used in the weight-of-evidence approach may include empirical indicators (catch, effort, catch rate, size- or age-based indicators, spatial and temporal distribution of the fishery), risk assessments, fishery-independent surveys, quantitative stock assessment models and harvest strategies.
