Baker Model without any dead recoveries

[rcolombo]

I have a data set from a catch and release musky fishery where there is multiple captures of individuals between marking times but they are always released. In this system there are no dead recoveries. Can I use a Barker model coded with all 2's in the dead cells? Is there a better analysis to use? This is an completly closed system.

Thanks in advance
Rob Colombo

[ganghis]

Rob,

Yes, this is a perfectly valid thing to do, although you'll need to constrain reporting rate (for dead recoveries) equal to 0. You'll also want to constrain F=1 and F'=0 since it's a completely closed system.

On a side note, the R' parameters are fairly data hungry estimate; you may have some parameter identification problems that will require these to be set to be time constant, or possibly even = to the R's.

Paul Conn