Science Response 2012/003

Monitoring update for the assessment of Northern Shrimp (Pandalus borealis) in Shrimp Fishing Areas 4-6 (NAFO Divs. 2G-3K)

Context

Northern Shrimp, Pandalus borealis, in Shrimp Fishing Areas (SFA) 4-6 were last assessed in March 2011. During that assessment, it was noted that the shrimp resource in SFA 6 had been in decline since 2006. The resource was in the Cautious zone within the harvest control rules provided within Annex I of the Integrated Fisheries Management Plan (IFMP) (available online). The 2011 zonal advisory process (ZAP) concluded that status of these stocks would continue to be fully assessed biennially based on the Precautionary Approach (PA) framework with the next assessment scheduled for March 2013. However, due to continued concern over the decline in SFA 6 stock status, Ecosystems and Fisheries Management (EFM) within Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) requested an update of resource status before developing harvesting strategies for the 2012/13 fishing season. A Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) Science Special Response process was held by teleconference and WebEx on February 20, 2012. The objective of this process was to update the indices for the Precautionary Approach framework for the status of Northern Shrimp in SFAs 4-6 through the 2011/12 fishing season.

Within SFA 6, the female spawning stock biomass (SSB) index had increased by 27% since 2010 and was at 242,000 t in 2011 and was assessed to be in the Healthy zone. However, there is a small chance that the SSB remains within the Cautious zone. The fishable biomass index had increased by 38% since 2010 and was at 409,000 t in 2011.

The biomass indices within SFA 5 had not significantly changed since 2001, while those within SFA 4 had not significantly changed since 2007. The lower bounds of the 95% confidence intervals around the 2011 SSBs for SFAs 4 and 5 were within the Healthy zones for the respective SFAs.

This Science Response Report is from the Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat Zonal Science Special Response Process of February 20, 2012 updating the assessment of Northern Shrimp stocks in SFAs 4-6.

Complete document (PDF, 671 KB)

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