ASPIC Software

for fishery surplus-production modeling

Nonendorsement: Tradenames are used on this page to identify computer hardware and software. Links to other products are offered for the user's convenience. Nothing here implies endorsement of any product by the author. All software should be evaluated by the user for suitability, safety, and correct operation.

ASPIC synopsis

ASPIC is a computer program for fisheries stock assessment work. Building on earlier work by Graham, Schaefer, Pella, Tomlinson, Fletcher, and others, ASPIC program implements methods described in Prager (1994) and Prager et al. (1996) to fit a nonequilibrium surplus-production model to data on fish catch and relative abundance.

Features of ASPIC 7 include:

Fits logistic (Schaefer) and generalized (Pella–Tomlinson) surplus-production models
Observation-error estimator assuming lognormal errors
Four estimation methods: Least squares, least absolute values, maximum likelihood, and maximum a posteriori (maximum likelihood with priors)
No assumption that observed yields are equilibrium yields
Up to 10 simultaneous or sequential data series
Bootstrap confidence intervals on estimates
Requires time series of removals and either standardized fishing effort or relative abundance

ASPIC and related programs are available free of charge, but with no warranty of any kind. Because of licensing restrictions on some subroutines, only compiled versions for Windows are available here. If you require source code (e.g., to run ASPIC on a different operating system), please contact the author.

ASPIC downloads

Current Version. Download ASPIC 7 here as a Windows installer. To install, just run the installer.

Previous Version. Download ASPIC 5 here as a Windows installer. To install, just run the installer.

Either installation will include these items:

ASPIC itself (command-line and drag-and-drop versions)
ASPICP, a projection program for ASPIC (command-line and drag-and-drop versions)
AGRAPH, a graphics program for ASPIC
Several sets of sample input and output files
ASPIC User's Guide and onscreen Quick-Reference (PDF)

Please note: Reported bugs are fixed promptly. For best results, please use the current version of ASPIC.

ASPIC news

• Apr 1, 2017: ASPIC version 7.05. Remove "BETA" designation from main output file. No changes to programs.

• Sep 2, 2016: ASPIC version 7.04. Minor corrections to manual. No changes to programs.

• Sep 17, 2015: ASPIC version 7.03. Installer now includes change log and program aspic5to7 for conversion of ASPIC 5 input files.

• Oct 28, 2014: ASPIC version 7.01. This fixes a bug in R output from ASPIC 7.00.

• Aug 8, 2014: ASPIC version 7.00. This is a major revision with a new input-file format (a conversion program is included). The main new features are two new estimation methods (maximum likelihood, maximum a posteriori [ML with priors]), revised parameterization (MSY and Fmsy instead of MSY and K), enlarged data extents, new sample files, and a reorganized User's Guide.

You can install ASPIC 7 in parallel with ASPIC 5 by first removing ASPIC 5 and reinstalling it with the installer on this page. Then, install ASPIC 7. The installation location of ASPIC 5 working files (including samples) has been changed from ASPIC to ASPIC5 in Windows's All Users or Public Documents directory. You will need to migrate your data files, if any, from the old directory manually.

• August 8, 2015: ASPIC version 5.57. You can avoid file-overwrite confirmation by putting a minus sign in front of the verbosity setting. Be careful! This version also installs to different directories, to avoid collisions with ASPIC 7.

Related files and programs

ASPIC User's Guides	When you download ASPIC, a copy of the User’s Guide is included. If you would like to download a User’s Guide by itself, here are links for the ASPIC 7 User’s Guide and the ASPIC 5 User’s Guide.
ASPIC Change Log	Find out what has changed in the most recent version. Click to download.
PrintFile	Some ASPIC users find this freeware utility handy for printing ASPIC output files, which are 120 characters wide. PrintFile was written by Peter Lerup of Malmo, Sweden.
ConTEXT	For editing ASPIC input files, an editor that can mark and move rectangular blocks is useful. ConTEXT, a freeware programmer's editor, offers that ability. ConTEXT was written by Eden Kirin of Zagreb, Croatia.