Science Response 2009/019

Stock assessment update for British Columbia canary rockfish

Context

In November 2007, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed canary rockfish as "Threatened". The Minister of the Environment will forward the assessment to the Governor in Council in early 2010, triggering a nine-month legal deadline. By Fall 2010, the Governor in Council’s proposed listing decision, based on a recommendation from the Minister of the Environment in consultation with the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, will be published in Canada Gazette I. Public comments will be accepted for 30 days. The Governor in Council will then make a final listing decision, which will be published in Canada Gazette II, at the end of the nine-month timeline. The decision can be to 1) accept the COSEWIC assessment and list the species, 2) decide not to list the species, or 3) send the assessment back to COSEWIC for further information or consideration. If the COSEWIC assessment of this species is accepted, a Recovery Strategy will be required within two years.

The intent of this document is to update a previous stock assessment that was provided in November 2007. This document updates the previous work by including more recent catch, survey, and biological data. It also incorporates the results of a meta-analysis of the stock-recruitment relationship for canary and other rockfish. The meta-analysis provides an objective basis for selecting plausible estimates for the steepness parameter, which affects stock productivity, an option that was not available when the 2007 assessment was prepared and reviewed. This document summarizes the current status relative to the DFO Precautionary Approach harvest reference points and provides decision tables which forecast the impact of varying fixed harvests on short and long term population trends.

Complete document (PDF, 491 KB)

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