Stock assessment and management strategy evaluation of Illex argentinus was made based on metapopulation. Single population is the basic hypothesis for the present fishery stock assessment. However, resources are usually composed of several populations and communicate with each other, which can form metapopulation. In this paper, the abundance of I. argentinus is assessed based on Bayesian statistical Schaefer model with single population and metapopulation. The results showed that year capture data and resource abundance index could provide sufficient information for Bayesian stock assessment model. The estimated maximum sustainable yield is similar to prediction value of model parameters for both single population and metapopulation. Catch mortality is lower than F_lim for single population, while catch mortality is higher than F_lim for south metapopulation. Abundance recovers to good condition with decreased catch mortality. Decision analysis showed that the abundance could keep at sustainable level under single population and metapopulation with yield rate at 0.3. Yield rate should be set between 0.2 and 0.3 for conservative strategy, where the sustainable catch is around 0.8 million tons.