Proceedings 2020/027

Proceedings of the Pacific regional peer review of the Evaluation of Management Procedures for Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasii) in the Strait of Georgia and the West Coast of Vancouver Island Management Areas of British Columbia; July 25-26, 2018

Chairperson: Bruce A. Patten

Editor: Brooke Davis

Summary

These Proceedings summarize the relevant discussions and key conclusions that resulted from a Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) Regional Peer Review meeting of July 25-26, 2018 at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, B.C. A working paper evaluating the performance of management procedures for British Columbia Pacific Herring was presented for peer review

In-person and web-based participation included Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Science and Fisheries and Aquatic Management Sectors staff; and external participants from First Nations organizations, the commercial and recreational fishing sectors, environmental non-governmental organizations, and academia.

This paper focuses on the simulation testing of management procedures for two of the five stock management areas of Pacific Herring in BC; West Coast of Vancouver Island (WCVI) and Strait of Georgia (SOG). This work is part of a larger MSE process that has included the previous development of a population dynamics operating model for Pacific Herring in BC, consultation with stakeholders to develop objectives, and finally, the testing of plausible management procedures, and their ability to reach conservation and management objectives. Three alternative operating models were used that represent alternative hypotheses describing stock-specific rates of natural mortality (M) over time. Candidate management procedures were run through each operating model, and performance measures (to measure performance against objectives) were reported. For the SOG stocks, all MPs were able to meet the main conservation objective with at least 75% probability, while other objectives were not always met in all scenarios. For the WCVI the conservation objective was not met in all cases with at least 75% probability. MPs that included catch caps were found to better maintain spawning biomass and limit the impact of assessment errors. Despite the current operating model being found suitable for simulation testing candidate management procedures, a number of key uncertainties remain, some of which will be explored in future iterations of this MSE process.

The conclusions and advice resulting from this review will be provided in the form of a Science Advisory Report providing advice to Fisheries Management to inform herring fishery planning and subsequent management strategy evaluation activities.

The Science Advisory Report and a supporting Research Document will be made publicly available on the DFO Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) website.

Proceedings 2020/027 (PDF, 431 KB)

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