Research Document - 2016/060

Fishery performance and status indicators for the assessment of the NAFO Division 4T southern Gulf of St. Lawrence Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) to 2014 and 2015

By J.L. McDermid, A. Mallet, and T. Surette

Abstract

Atlantic herring in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (sGSL) consists of two spawning components, spring spawners (SS) and fall spawners (FS). This document presents the most recent information on trends in abundance, distribution, and harvest for the SS and FS herring components in NAFO Div. 4T of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (sGSL). This includes catch-at-age and catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) indices, fisheries-independent acoustic indices, a catch rate index from the experimental gillnet survey, mesh selectivity indices, and catches in the multi-species bottom trawl survey of the sGSL. The data and indices are reported for the whole-area for the SS and regionally-disaggregated (North, Middle, and South regions) for the FS where applicable.

Preliminary landing data to 2015 for SS show continued declines despite maintaining a consistent total allowable catch (TAC). For FS, preliminary landings in 2014 and 2015 were lower than in previous years, however, the TAC was also lower for this time frame. Some indices suggest an improvement in the fishery in 2015. The CPUE index for both SS and FS increased in 2015. The catch rates from the experimental net index for FS increased in the North region, remained constant in the Middle region, and declined in the South region. These results corroborate the opinions of fish harvesters from the telephone survey. Nonetheless, the fishery-independent survey indices remained among the lowest values in the time series. These data and indices are incorporated into virtual population analysis (VPA) models and used to assess the herring stock in NAFO Div. 4T.

Complete document (PDF, 4,374 KB)

Accessibility Notice

This document is available in PDF format. If the document is not accessible to you, please contact the Secretariat to obtain another appropriate format, such as regular print, large print, Braille or audio version.