Distribution of Greenland Halibut and By-catch Species that Overlap the 200-mile Limit Spatially and in Relation to Depth – Effect of Depth Restrictions in the Fishery. Distribution of the Fishable Biomass of the Main Commercial Species of Fish in Relation to Depth

It is thought that measures currently in operation in the NAFO Regulatory Area are not adequate for the protection of the juvenile fish. The largest fishery in the NRA and thus the one of greatest concern is that directing for Greenland halibut. As well, the need to reduce by-catch of any species in the Greenland halibut and other fisheries has been noted. Because of the range of depths currently fished, the Greenland halibut fishery not only focuses on the juvenile component of the population but also takes significant by-catch. This paper is a compendium of 12 papers presented recently to Scientific Council. Information on the distribution of Greenland halibut including distribution of undersized (below 35 cm, the Canadian minimum landing size) and mature and immature components of the population based on both survey and commercial information is presented. The paper also elaborates on the distribution of other commercial species that occur in the NRA, those that may be taken as by-catch in the directed Greenland halibut or other NRA fisheries, including those that overlap the Southeast Shoal

Results from Bottom Trawl Survey on Flemish Cap of June-July 2018

A stratified random bottom trawl survey on Flemish Cap was carried out from June 26th to July 24th 2018. The area surveyed was extended up to depths of 800 fathoms (1460 meters) following the same procedures as in previous years and 181 fishing stations planned. The survey was carried out by the R/V Vizconde de Eza with the usual survey gear (Lofoten). A total of 181 valid hauls were made by the vessel R/V Vizconde de Eza, 120 up to 730 meters depth and 61 up to 1460 meters. Survey results including abundance indices of the main commercial species and age distributions for cod, redfish, American plaice, Greenland halibut, roughhead grenadier, squid and shrimp are presented. The general indexes for this year are estimated taken into account the traditional swept area (strata 1-19, up to depths of 730 m.) and the total area surveyed (strata 1-34, up to depths of 1460

Protocols of the EU bottom trawl survey of Flemish Cap

Methods and procedures used in the EU bottom trawl survey of Flemish Cap (NAFO Division 3M) are described in detail. The objectives of publicising these protocols are to achieve a better understanding of its results, and to contribute to the routines being unaltered

Distribution and main characteristic of fish species on flemish cap based on the 1988-2002 EU-surveys in July

73 páginas, 1 tabla.-- R. Alpoim ... et al.Information of most of fish species on Flemish Cap is presented, based on the results of the EU surveys in July from 1988 to 2002. It includes: survey catches in weight and number, mean weight, length-weight relationship, length distribution, mean age at length (when available) and bathymetric distribution.Peer reviewe

An ASPIC Based Assessment of Redfish (S. mentella and S. fasciatus) in NAFO Divisions 3LN (can a surplus production model cope with bumpy survey data?)

There are two species of redfish in Divisions 3L and 3N, the deep-sea redfish (Sebastes mentella) and the Acadian redfish (Sebastes fasciatus) that have been commercially fished and reported collectively as redfish in fishery statistics. Redfish in Div. 3LN is regarded as a management unit composed of two Grand Bank populations from those two very similar redfish species. The present ASPIC assessment is based on the logistic form of a non-equilibrium surplus production model (Schaeffer, 1954; Prager, 1994), adjusted to a standardized catch rate series (Power, 1997) and to most of the stratified-random bottom trawl surveys conducted in various years and seasons in Div. 3L and Div. 3N from 1978 onwards. These surveys were framed according to the input formulation previously adopted on the 2nd take of the ASPIC 2008 assessment (Ávila de Melo and Alpoim, 2010a). The assessment was preceded by an exploratory analysis to check the response of the model to the inclusion of the Spanish spring survey series on Div. 3N and to the 2010-2011 update of the remaining three Canadian survey series that are at present the backbone input of this assessment. Each of these series includes recently high points that are well above their overall increasing trends, observed 2002 onwards. The analysis point out that in terms of consistency with previous assessments and the past history of the redfish fishery, as well as performance of the model, the ASPIC 2012 option with the exclusion of the Spanish survey and the removal of the recent outliers from the respective Canadian series represents the better update of the survey data input framework. The chosen input formulation run afterwards with different last year survey results and different starting guesses for key parameters and different random number seeds, in order to test the robustness of ASPIC results to turbulence in the inputs used to initialize the model deterministic run. A 2012 versus 2010 ASPIC comparative assessment (both on FIT and BOT modes) and a 2012-2010 retrospective analysis were also carried out to check the consistency between the two last full assessments and the magnitude of bias on relative biomass and fishing mortality in response to the general increase of the still standing survey series. Regardless the input formulations, the starting guess region, the mode of the ASPIC runs or the retrospective patterns, the 2012 assessment reiterates the main conclusion of the previous ones: the biomass of redfish in Div. 3LN is above Bmsy , while fishing mortality is well below Fmsy . Most recent catches continue to be at a low level on the historical context of this fishery and the answer of the stock to a direct fishery of the magnitude of years between the mid 1960’s and the mid 1980’s is unknown. Projections were made on the short term, in order to select a 2013-2012 catch roof large enough to consolidate the reopening of a redfish direct fishery on divisions 3L and 3N but keeping a high probability of the stock staying above Bmsy. This high probability is defined by the lower 80% confidence limit of the projected relative biomass trajectory being at or above Bmsy in 2013-2015

An assessment of beaked redfish (S. mentella and S. fasciatus) in NAFO division 3M (with an approach to the likely impact of recent 3M cod growth on redfish natural mortality)

65 páginas, 12 tablas, 10 figuras.-- Scientific Council MeetingThe 3M redfish assessment is focused on the beaked redfish, regarded as a management unit composed of two populations from two very similar species: the Flemish Cap S. mentella and S. fasciatus. The reason for this approach is the historical dominance of this group in the 3M redfish commercial catch until 2005. However a new golden redfish fishery (S. marinus) started on September 2005 on shallower depths of the Flemish Cap bank above 300m. This new reality implied a revision of catch estimates, in order to split recent redfish commercial catch from the major fleets on Div. 3M into golden (S. marinus) and beaked (S. mentella and S. fasciatus) redfish catches. An Extended Survivor Analysis (Shepherd, 1999) was used with the same framework of previous assessments and with the tuning of the 1989-2010 EU survey. Recent survey results suggest that the beaked redfish stock has not been able to hold its growth and sustain an above average level, suffering instead a severe decline on the second half of the 2000’s. For several reasons, the most likely hypothesis to justify this unexpected downward trend on stock size is an increase in mortality other than fishing mortality. From the sensitive analysis, carried out for a set of natural mortality options, a natural mortality of 0.4 (fixed for ages 4-6 through 2006-2010, and ages 7+ on 2009 and 2011) was adopted. This is the lowest possible level of natural mortality giving assessment results in line with the recent survey declines and at the same time with key diagnostics very close to the best ones, obtained with a higher natural mortality of 0.55. A 2011-2007 retrospective XSA was also carried out. When compared to previous assessments, these retrospective present more consistent trends namely as regards female spawning biomass and average fishing mortality, coupled with a non systematic bias signal. Very high fishing mortalities until 1996 forced a rapid decline of abundance, biomass and female spawning biomass. With lower fishing mortalities since then, the stock decline was halted. The weak 1991-1997 year classes kept the stock size at a low level till 2003, basically sustained by the survival and growth of the existing cohorts. Recruitment at age 4 increased from 2002 till 2006, when the 2002 year class was at an historical high, and from 2006 to 2008 fell as fast as it went up, still continuing to decrease on most recent years and being on 2010 just bellow average. Above average year classes coupled with fishing mortalities in the vicinity of F0.1 or even lower allowed a rapid growth of biomass and abundance since 2003 and sustained the stock at a high level on 2007-2008. However the stock decreased on the last couple of years despite low catch and, being still above average level, there are no signs that the present decline rate is slowing down. Female spawning stock component experienced a similar decline. Short and medium term stochastic projections were obtained for female spawning stock biomass (SSB) under Fstatusquo (average 2008-2010 fishing mortality), together with SSB and yield medium term probability profiles. Keeping fishing mortality at its present low level well below F0.1 will sustain on the short term the female spawning stock biomass above the SSB interval from where all the abundant year classes from the past decade where generated. But on the long term it will be natural mortality to determine the future of beaked redfish as a fishery resource. The average 2012-2013 Fstatusquo catch for beaked redfish will be 2 of 3,200 tons. According to 2008-2010 observed catch data from the Portuguese, Spanish and Russian National Sampling Programmes on board, a beaked redfish annual catch of 3,200 tons would correspond to an overall 3M redfish catch (including the shallower golden redfish catches) near 7,000 tons (6,840 tons)This assessment is part of a EU research project supported by the European Commission (DG XIV, Program for the collection of data in fisheries sector), IPIMAR, CSIC, IEO and AZT

Analysis of 3M cod catch in all the fisheries across the Flemish Cap

Analyses of the haul by haul data from 2016 to 2020, as well as samples from observers on board, from the directed and no-directed fishery catching 3M cod, were conducted in order to consider whether measures, such as depth restrictions, spatial and mesh changes, could reduce the catch of juvenile and immature cod across all fisheries in 3M. The recent bycatch of 3M cod in other fisheries is considered low when compared to the directed cod fishery. Therefore, at this time, the implementation of measures to avoid juvenile cod bycatch would be premature, given that the burden of implementing and enforcing these measures on multiple fisheries may outweigh its potential benefits. With respect to the directed 3M cod fishery, and considering that new measures have been just implemented, it is prudent to analyze the effectiveness of these measures to protect juveniles before considering which additional and/or different technical measures may be required to further reduce juvenile cod catches, if needed.Versión del edito

An Assessment of American Plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides) in NAFO Division 3M

The present assessment evaluates the status of the 3M American plaice stock. The catch at age matrix, EU survey abundance at age and the respective mean weights were updated. The XSA and a VPA-type Bayesian model were applied to this stock, but the XSA presented unrealistic results. The surveys and models indicate that the stock suffered a continuous decline, even with catches kept at a low level since 1996. A general decrease is observed in the biomass and abundance estimated by the several surveys. The EU survey and VPA-type Bayesian model indicates only poor recruitment from 1991 to 2005 year class. SSB recorded a minimum in 2009, in recent years SSB indices increase with the income of the strong 2006 year class in the SSB but in 2013 this increase seems to halt mainly as there were fewer older fish (ages 16+). There are no changes in the perception of the stock status from last assessment (2011). This stock continues to be in a poor condition, despite the apparent improvement of the recruitment since 2006 (mainly due to the 2006 year class). Although the level of catches is low since 1996, this stock has been kept at a low level

Analysis of the by-catch of the moratorium stocks in the NRA

In 2017 the Commission approved the Action Plan for the Management and Minimization of by-catch and discards. The Action Plan cited the NAFO Secretariat to conduct the annual mapping of by-catch in NAFO from 2016 onwards using HbH data. The Secretariat presented the results of by-catch analysis of the haul by haul reports of 2016-2019. This analysis was carried out based on the interactions of directed fisheries (non-moratorium stocks) – by-catch stock (moratorium stock). The present document presents an analysis based on the moratoria species/stocks. For each of the species/stocks in moratorium, the main fisheries that catch it as by-catch are identified and analyzed to observe if there are temporal/spatial patterns of the by-catch of stocks in moratorium. These two analyses: moratorium species/fishery, together with the analysis carried out by the Secretariat, fishery/moratorium species, are complementary and will allow a better response to the Action Plan task 3.2: "Areas where there is a risk of causing serious harm to by-catch species. Identify areas, times and fisheries where bycatch and discards, notably of moratoria species, that have a higher rate of occurrence”. One of the objectives of this document is to search, for the different stocks in moratorium, spatio-temporal patterns of the by-catches carried out by the different fisheries. The seasonal/space catch analysis based on the HbH data will be restricted to: American plaice Div. 3M, American plaice Div. 3LNO and cod Div. 3NO, since they are the stocks in moratorium that have some level of catches and are not mainly distributed within national waters. The conclusions on the last two stocks are partial since the data analyzed only cover part of their distribution (NRA). The general conclusion of this analysis is that there are no remarkable spatial differences between the hauls with and without by-catch of the moratoria stocks of the different directed fisheries. It can be observed that the directed fisheries that have a higher frequency of by-catch of these species/stocks in moratorium are those that are carried out less than 200 meters deep: yellowtail flounder Div. 3LNO, skates Div. 3LNO and cod Div. 3M in the shallowest part of the Flemish Cap. In some fisheries, it is possible to observe variations in the frequencies of sets with moratoria species by-catch by quarter, this temporal pattern is related to the displacement of the directed fishery to different areas.Versión del edito