Science Advisory Report 2010/088
The Saguenay Fjord winter recreational groundfish fishery, 2008-2010
Summary
- Since 1996, the total groundfish fishing effort throughout the Saguenay has remained somewhat the same despite significant fluctuations between years and an ongoing decrease in fishing effort within the limits of the marine park.
- The 2008 and 2009 fishing seasons opened in mid-January and ended by mid-March. During these two years, weather conditions were favourable and there were no temporary closures of fishing sites. However, the 2010 fishing season was cut short by about 50% due to an exceptionally warm winter.
- Redfish represent about 90% of groundfish catches. The number of catches per unit effort (NUE) from the fishery and from the science mission shows a continuous downward trend. Size structures suggest that the 1980 redfish cohort has been exploited and no recruitment has been observed since.
- Atlantic cod and Greenland cod represent about 9% of catches. The fishery and science mission show that since 2007, there has been an increase in terms of NUE for Atlantic cod, but Greenland cod numbers have remained at a very low level.
- Turbot represents less than 1% of catches. The NUE of the fishery shows no trend and the science mission shows there was an increase between 2000-2004 and 2005-2010.
- Saguenay redfish are at a very low level. Groundfish recruitment to the Saguenay relies on the arrival of juveniles from the Estuary. Therefore, exploitation does not affect the recruitment of redfish or of other groundfish to the Saguenay, but determines the speed at which these stocks decline and can impact the integrity of the ecosystem. Consequently, management measures should aim at significantly reducing the fishing effort, in particular for redfish.
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