Transboundary Resources Assessment Committee Status Report 2015/03 : Georges Bank Yellowtail Flounder

Details

• Alternative Title:
  TRAC. 2015. Georges Bank Yellowtail Flounder. TRAC Status Report 2015/03
• 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 and USA catches in 2014 were 159 mt. This is the lowest value in the time series beginning in 1935. Discards were greater than landings for the first time in 2014. The declining trend in survey biomass to low levels for the past two years, despite reductions in catch to historical low amounts, indicates a poor state of the resource. Recent catch is low relative to the biomass estimated from the surveys but catch curve analyses indicate high total mortality rates (Z>1). Stock biomass is low and productivity is poor. An empirical approach based on survey catches developed during the 2014 Georges Bank Yellowtail Flounder Diagnostic and Empirical Approach Benchmark was applied to generate catch advice. There are two approaches to management that could be considered: constant exploitation rate and constant quota. The Transboundary Resources Assessment Committee (TRAC) recommends the Transboundary Management Guidance Committee (TMGC) implement and maintain one of these approaches over three years to see if the stock responds. Using a constant exploitation rate of 2% to 16% results in catch advice of 45 mt to 359 mt. Using a constant quota approach, the TRAC recommends a quota of 354 mt or lower (based on not increasing the quota relative to the 2015 quota due to concerns about stock declines).
• 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/23455/noaa_23455_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 587.30 KB]
• Collection(s):
  National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:32e3fa8caff7c77c482d836287d0fa0d28469135e925fed01a7cd6fddc7c751884f3a38226648d10acbe3b36ec20da3f3f07f130530f271e941e1a6d41c727c9