Quality of the Surveys Information in Relation with the Greenland Halibut Assessment of Subarea 2 and Divisions 3KLMNO

The aim of this paper is to provide a study of the quality of the surveys information in relation with the Greenland halibut assessment of the NAFO Subarea 2 and Divisions 3KLMNO. The surveys abundance correlation within surveys, between surveys and XSA showed that the surveys had many difficulties to track ages older than 6 years. For Flemish Cap survey and Canadian Spring Survey, the problem to track these ages could be principally the depth coverage of the surveys, but for the other surveys this lack of tracking could be due to different reasons as age reading inconsistencies and changes in catchability of these ages in the surveys

Report of the NAFO Precautionary Approach Working Group (PA-WG)

The meeting was opened by the co-Chairs Fernando González-Costas and Steven Cadrin at 09:00 hours (Atlantic Daylight Time in Halifax, Nova Scotia) on Thursday, 19 May 2022

Report of the Scientific Council Meeting 27 July 2022

Scientific Council reviewed and finalized the working paper drafted by the Precautionary Approach Working Group (PA-WG). The final draft of this working paper, which will be presented to the Precautionary Approach workshop (15-16 August 2022) and WG-RBMS (17-19 August 2022), is attached to this report as Appendix I

Serial No. N7262 NAFO COM-SC Doc. 22-01 Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Report of the NAFO Working Group on Improving Efficiency of NAFO Working Group Process (E-WG) Meeting, 22 February 2022

Report of the NAFO Working Group on Improving Efficiency of NAFO Working Group Process (E-WG) Meeting held by WebEx 22 February 2022Versión del editor

Achieving NAFO Convention Objectives with a Precautionary Approach Framework

The Precautionary Approach Working Group (PA-WG) developed recommendations for designing a Precautionary Approach Framework that is expected to meet the objectives of the NAFO Convention. The objectives and general principles of the NAFO Convention can be achieved by a Precautionary Approach Framework in addition to other NAFO processes to minimize bycatch, catch by lost/abandoned gear, pollution and waste from fishing. The PA-WG recommends that the Precautionary Approach Framework should: 1) promote rebuilding of depleted stocks toward the stock biomass associated with maximum sustainable yield (BMSY), 2) account for scientific uncertainty through buffer reference points or other risk-based approaches, 3) develop limit reference points for stock biomass (Blim) and fishing mortality (Flim) that are consistent with each other, 4) Blim should be based on sustainability and reduced productivity where possible, and 5) reference points should be re-evaluated when the available information on productivity substantially changes, there is evidence of a productivity regime shift, or management procedures based on re-evaluated reference points are demonstrated to perform better for meeting NAFO’s objectives. All options considered for a revised Precautionary Approach Framework should be simulation tested to determine if management measures set in accordance with the framework are expected to achieve the following objectives: a very low risk of stock depletion (i.e., B<Blim), effectively rebuild stocks to BMSY, maintain stocks above BMSY more often than not, and maintain average catches of approximately MSY in the long-term

Report of the NAFO Joint Commission-Scientific Council Working Group on Risk-Based Management Strategies (WG-RBMS) Meeting

The meeting was opened by the co-Chairs Fernando González-Costas (European Union) and Ray Walsh (Canada) at 09:30 hours (UTC/GMT -3 hours in Halifax, Nova Scotia) on Wednesday, 17 August 2022

Assessment of the Cod Stock in NAFO Division 3M

An assessment of the cod stock in NAFO Division 3M was conducted using a Bayesian SCAA (statistical catch-at-age) model. The STACFIS catch estimates and the Flemish Cap survey indices were used to fit the model. Blim, defined as the SSB of 2007, was estimated at 15 037 t (median). Results indicate a general increase in SSB since 2005 to the highest value in 2017, decreasing since then. SSB has been above Blim since 2008. Between 2013 and 2018 recruitment was at very low levels; the 2016 and 2018 values were among the lowest of the series; as a consequence, 3-year projections indicate that total biomass will decrease during the projected years, while the SSB could increase under some scenarios in the final projected year. The probability of SSB being below Blim is low high (<10%) in all the scenarios. An increase in recruitment occurred since 2019, reaching in 2021 the 2014 level.Versión del editor

Effect in survey indices of removing stations in the NAFO closed Areas in the design of the EU surveys including the 2021 closed areas

In 2009, the Fisheries Commission established several coral and sponges protection closures areas to bottom fisheries within the NAFO Regulatory Area that started to be applied in 2010. Three random bottom trawl surveys are performed by the EU yearly in the NAFO Regulatory Area: Spanish Div. 3NO (Spring), Spanish and Portuguese in Div. 3M (Summer) and Spanish Div. 3L (Summer). The surveys are currently carried out by the R/V Vizconde de Eza and covers the closed areas. A study of the survey indices of the species assessed in NAFO (except shrimp) have been performed to know the impact of removing the hauls in the closed areas from the survey. The results of the analysis show that there are two species, Greenland halibut and roughhead grenadier, in which their biomass and/or age/length indices are affected in all the surveys analyzed. This is due to the fact that these two species are distributed at greater depths and that the closed areas are mainly found in deep areas, so the suppression of survey hauls in closed areas has a greater impact on the indices of these two species. The best way to know the impact in the assessment results of these changes in the Greenland halibut and roughhead grenadier indices would be to run the assessment with both indices, the base case ones and the new case ones, and compare the results. There are other species in which their global biomass indices do not change very much, but their age or length indices change appreciably when hauls from closed areas are removed from the calculations. In one case, the results of the assessment are compromised and it would be better to rerun the assessment with the new case indices to see the differences. In other cases, although the length distribution is not directly used in the assessment models, some recruitment and spawning stock biomass indices are derived from them, so changes in the perception of the stock could be encountered. These changes in the age/length indices should be considered in future assessments of these stocks if the prohibition of the surveys trawls in closed areas is approved. If more close areas are added in the future to the existing ones, this study should be redone, which implies a big amount of work. It is not worth to rerun this study each time the closed areas change.Versión del editor

Analysis of the NAFO VMS and logbook data

within the National Program of collection, management and use of data in the fisheries sector and support for scientific advice regarding the Common Fisheries Policy.The objective of the ecosystem approach is to protect the structures, processes and interactions of the ecosystem through a sustainable use of the natural resources. A key step when studying the environmental impact of the fishing activity is to assess the fishing footprint. There are two methodologies to study the fishing effort and footprint in the NAFO Regulatory Area (NRA). The first one uses a simple speed filter to select the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) pings most likely to be associated with fishing effort. The second one filters the VMS pings that correspond with the haul interval registered by the skipper in the logbook. The purpose of this study is to analyse the quality and coverage of the VMS and logbook data used in these two methods. Data collected by the IEO Scientific Observer Program on board fishing vessels were also used to measure the coverage. The results show that the current speed range (0.5-5 knots) used in the speed filter method may be adequate to study effort in trawl fisheries but is not representative for longline fisheries. It was also observed that both databases, VMS and logbook, contain errors and the effects of the misreporting are enhanced when both data sets are merged. Data from scientific observers allowed to measure these errors and, as a result, only around 60-70% of the total pings were taken into account with the merging approach. Despite the merging approach is widely considered an improvement in relation to the former method (i.e. simple speed filter) and a powerful tool for describing the spatial distribution of fishing activity, this improvement relies on the coverage and quality of the available information. The quality of information, both in the VMS system and in the logbooks, should be of concern to NAFO. The improvement of the quality of these data is crucial for better studying the effort distribution and the tasks related to this effort (SAI, fisheries footprint, fishing overlap with VME, assessments, etc).European Union through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF)Versión del edito

Information to support decisions on authorizing scientific surveys with bottom-contacting gears in NAFO closed areas

There are presently no existing frameworks or approaches in NAFO to assist in determining under what conditions scientific surveys employing bottom-contacting gear can be permitted in protected areas. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has produced a Canadian National Framework to guide the evaluation of scientific surveys within protected areas inside the Canadian waters. The objective of this document is to apply to the scientific surveys that are carried out in the NRA the framework developed by the DFO for the collection of information that can help managers in the decision of whether the actual scientific surveys can sample or not in the closed areas to bottom fishing activities