Science Advisory Report  2014/058

Assessment of the Saguenay Fjord Winter Recreational Groundfish Fishery, 2013–2014

Summary

• The popularity of the winter recreational fishery in the Saguenay continues unabated. For the 2013 and 2014 seasons, around 1,600 fishing huts were set up on the pack ice. 
• The 2013 and 2014 fishing seasons were 43 days long, as specified in the management plan. They opened the third week of January and ended the first week of March. In 2014, insufficient ice cover in La Baie delayed set-up of the huts by one week.
• Redfish accounted for 89% of groundfish catches in the recreational fishery in 2013 and 2014. The number of Redfish catches per unit effort (NUE) from the fishery and from the research survey shows a considerable drop, with stabilization at a low level in recent years. The size structure of catches suggests that exploitation rests on a limited number of cohorts.
• Atlantic Cod, Greenland Cod and Greenland Halibut (Turbot) accounted for 4%, 5% and 2% of groundfish catches, respectively, in the recreational fishery in 2013 and 2014. The NUEs for these three species are low. The size structures suggest the presence of several cohorts for each species in the fishery.
• The daily catch limit set at five groundfish since 2004 and reductions in the fishing season to 43 days since 2011 appear to have helped stabilize catches and reduced the fishing pressure over the past four years.
• Groundfish recruitment in the Saguenay relies on the arrival of juveniles from the Estuary. Therefore, the winter recreational fishery would not affect recruitment of these fish in the Saguenay.
• In 2013 and 2014, a high abundance of juvenile Redfish was identified in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. These juveniles were also observed in the Saguenay. However, there is no further information on the scope of these inflows of Redfish or their potential impact on the success of the fishery in a few years. In the short term, harvesting contributes to a lower abundance of adult Redfish.
• Since groundfish in the Saguenay are a component of a unique ecosystem, the precautionary principle justifies protecting their populations. We recommend maintaining a level of effort and catches similar to those in previous years.

This Science Advisory Report is from the October 30, 2014 on the Assessment of the Saguenay Fjord winter recreational groundfish fishery. Additional publications from this meeting will be posted on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Science Advisory Schedule as they become available.

Complete document (PDF, 381 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.