Transboundary Resources Assessment Committee Status Report 2017/01 : Eastern Georges Bank Cod

Details

• Alternative Title:
  TRAC. 2017. Eastern Georges Bank Cod. TRAC Status Report 2017/01.
• Corporate Authors:
  Canada. Department of Fisheries and Oceans. ; United States. National Marine Fisheries Service ; Northeast Fisheries Science Center (U.S.)
• NOAA Program & Office:
  NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) ; NEFSC (Northeast Fisheries Science Center)
• Description:
  Combined Canada/USA catches in 2016 were 537 mt, which included 17 mt of discards. Survey biomass indices increased for all three surveys, while recruitment has been poor for the last 25 years. Relative fishing mortality has declined since 1995, although total mortality from all sources has remained high. The estimated adult population biomass at the beginning of 2017 from the Virtual Population Analysis (VPA) “M 0.8” model was 13,944 mt. Recruitment at age 1 has been low in recent years, but the 2013 year class estimated from the VPA “0.8” model at 6 million fish shows the highest estimated recruitment since 1990. Fishing mortality (ages 4-9) in 2016 was estimated from the VPA “M 0.8” model to be 0.05. In recent years, ages 6+ are not fully selected to the fishery. In 2016, ages 3 and 4 were fully recruited. Consequently, the average fishing mortality on ages 4-9 cannot be directly compared to the model reference F=0.11, so it is difficult to conclude whether a low risk of exceeding F=0.11 is being achieved. The survey weight at age has been declining since the 1990s. Lower weights at age in the population in recent years, a truncated age structure, poor recruitment, and high total mortality have contributed to the lack of rebuilding. The Transboundary Resources Assessment Committee (TRAC) recommends catch advice in the range of 730 mt to 900 mt.
• Document Type:
  Technical Report
• Place as Subject:
  Georges Bank ; North Atlantic Ocean ; United States ; Canada
• Rights Information:
  Public Domain
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/23025/noaa_23025_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.06 MB]
• Collection(s):
  National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5cf14bd7dc9b26acf367cfbaa8be7306b5dd9147da59fa6aa2b218f2d176bb6483b3310e3c83f055c981259ce4c33b1f4c2a159465459b2c1a99892cdadb23f4