Research Document - 2016/076
Assessment of White Hake (Urophycis tenuis, Mitchill 1815) in NAFO Division 3P
By M.R. Simpson, C.M. Miri and L.G.S Mello
Abstract
White Hake in NAFO Subdivision (Subdiv.) 3Ps and Divisions (Divs.) 3NO inhabits the southern Grand Bank and St. Pierre Bank of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), associated with the warmest bottom temperatures (>4°C). White Hake is a demersal gadoid species, subject to ongoing mortality in directed and bycatch fisheries conducted by Canada ( Divs. 3NOPs within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)) and other countries (in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization’s (NAFO) Regulatory Area of Divs. 3NO). Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO) NL spring survey abundance index for Divs. 3NOPs peaked in 2000, due to a very large 1999 year-class. Annual NAFO-reported landings from Subdiv. 3Ps averaged 619 tons in 1994‑2002, increased to an average of 1,450 t in 2003‑07 (following recruitment of the 1999 year-class to the fishery), then decreased to a 338 t average in 2008‑14. Since 2003, the Subdiv. 3Ps biomass index has been in decline, while recruitment remains low.
Available evidence suggests that current White Hake productivity, like other piscivores, may be hindered in Subdiv. 3Ps, therefore it is advised that higher than usual risk-aversion be considered in the management of these stocks. If White Hake in Subdiv. 3Ps is to recover, it will be due to favourable changes in environmental conditions that allow successive years of good recruitment. The most effective way to assist in rebuilding the White Hake population is to conserve as much spawning biomass as possible.
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