2016. TRAC Eastern Georges Bank Haddock Status Report 2016/02

Since 1998, the Transboundary Resources Assessment Committee (TRAC) has reviewed Eastern Georges Bank Haddock stock assessments and projections necessary to support management activities for shared resources across the United States of America (USA)-Canada international Hague Line in the Gulf of Maine-Georges Bank region. These assessments have been conducted annually to advise the Transboundary Management Guidance Committee (TMGC) about the status of the resource and likely consequences of policy choices. Eastern Georges Bank Haddock is a stock that has increased tremendously from a very low state in the 1990s, and is showing improved recruitment with the production of 5 strong year-classes in the last 13 years. In the most recent stock assessment (TRAC 2015) adult biomass at the beginning of 2015 was estimated to be the second highest in the time series. Because the stock was perceived to be doing well, it was proposed in 2014 by TRAC and TMGC that the assessments would move to a 2-year cycle with an interim report produced in the intervening year. In 2015, the Terms of Reference for the TRAC haddock assessment included the request for 2 years of catch advice (2016 and 2017) corresponding to low (25%), neutral (50%), and high (75%) probability that the fishing mortality (F) would exceed the reference level (F[ref] = 0.26). In 2016, the TRAC was tasked with preparing an interim report for Eastern Georges Bank Haddock focusing on selected indicators of stock status to ensure that the 2016 advice from the 2015 assessment was still appropriate and, if not, to revise the advice.

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