Research Document - 2012/140
Assessment of Greenland Halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) stock status in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (4RST) in 2010 and diet description for this population
By B. Bernier and D. Chabot
Abstract
The assessment of the Gulf of St. Lawrence Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) is based mostly on historical trends in stock abundance and demographic indicators obtained from the commercial fishery, the scientific survey, and the July sentinel fishery survey until 2010. This document describes the data and methods used to obtain these indicators. The main indicators are abundance and total biomass of this population, the abundance of fish available to the fishery (i.e. > 44 cm), of prerecruits (i.e. 40 to 43 cm), a recruitment index (i.e. abundance of fish from 12 to 21 cm, or 1 yr old), fishing success (catch rate), average size of fish in the fishery and size structure of the population. Information on the spatial distribution of the population and of recruitment, size at maturity and a condition index is also presented. The diet of Greenland halibut from the Gulf of St. Lawrence is also described in detail for the first time, using 18697 stomachs collected between 1993 and 2009.
Indices of population biomass were lower during the 1990s. They improved at the end of the 1990s and beginning of 2000s, and remained stable at a high level until 2007. A decline was observed starting in 2008. Recruitment strength during the last five years has been below to the historical average (1990-2010).
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