Research Document 2018/026

Assessment of Newfoundland east and south coast Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) stock complexes

By Bourne, C., Mowbray, F., Squires, B., and Koen-Alonso, M

Abstract

The assessment of Newfoundland east and south coast Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) stock complexes considered data to the spring of 2016. Stock status index updates were provided for the Bonavista Bay-Trinity Bay (BBTB), St. Mary’s Bay-Placentia Bay (SMBPB), and Fortune Bay (FB) stock complexes; biological updates only were provided for White Bay-Notre Dame Bay (WBNDB) and Conception Bay-Southern Shore (CBSS). All stock complexes with the exception of FB are currently dominated by fall spawning herring, following a shift in spawning stock composition which occurred during the early-2000s that was potentially correlated with environmental drivers. The age distribution of all stock complexes except FB was broad in 2015, with the strength of multiple year classes above the long term mean; the 2008 fall year class was particularly strong on the northeast coast (WBNDB, BBTB, CBSS).

With a general increasing trend in catch rates (with the exception of 2016), a broad age distribution, and good recruitment of age 4 herring in 2015 in the spring research gillnet program, the stock status index and short term prospects for BBTB were positive. An opportunistic acoustic survey conducted in February 2016 determined that relative abundance of herring in SMBPB was slightly below the mean of surveys conducted between 1986 and 2000, giving a positive stock status evaluation. In FB, catch rates in the spring research gillnet program have been well below average since 2011, the age distribution has been largely skewed toward older fish (age 11+), and recruitment was extremely poor from 2003-15; based on this information, the stock status index is negative and future prospects for the stock complex are poor. Without acoustic or gillnet surveys, stock status could not be updated for the WBNDB or CBSS stock complexes.

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