Science Response 2021/013

Updated evaluation of management procedures for Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasii) in the Strait of Georgia and the West Coast of Vancouver Island management areas of British Columbia

Context

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has committed to renewing the current Pacific Herring management framework to address a range of challenges facing Pacific Herring stocks and fisheries in British Columbia. Renewal of the Pacific Herring management framework includes conducting a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) process to evaluate the performance of candidate management procedures (MPs) against a range of hypotheses related to future uncertainty in stock and fishery dynamics. The purpose of MSE is to identify MPs that provide acceptable management risks and outcomes through model simulation, relative to defined conservation and fishery management objectives.

Identification of a preferred management procedure for each Pacific Herring management area is an iterative process conducted through:

1. collaboration with coastal First Nations, and
2. engagement with the fishing industry, government and non-government organizations.

In July 2018, a formal peer review was conducted on the Pacific Herring MSE operating models (based on Cox et al. 2019) and management procedure evaluation for the West Coast of Vancouver Island (WCVI) and Strait of Georgia (SoG) management areas (DFO 2019). The review focused on closed-loop simulation testing of MPs under three scenarios describing future trends in natural mortality (M), which is the dominant factor evaluated in Pacific Herring stock dynamics.

In the spring of 2019, the first cycle of the MSE process was initiated using the method presented in DFO ( 2019) for the three remaining Pacific Herring stock management areas. The process included performance evaluation of MPs for Haida Gwaii (HG), Prince Rupert District (PRD), and Central Coast (CC; DFO 2020).

In 2020, DFO Fisheries Management requested that DFO Science Branch update the simulations to include stock and fishery data up to 2019 (WCVI) and 2020 (SoG) and to evaluate the performance of additional candidate management procedures for the WCVI and SoG management areas; now considered the second MSE cycle for these stocks.

Evaluation of results and advice produced from this Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) Science Response Process (SRP) will support renewal of the Pacific Herring management framework and inform development of the 2020/2021 Pacific Herring Integrated Fisheries Management Plan (IFMP).

This Science Response results from the Science Response Process of September 30, 2020 on the Management Strategy Evaluation Update: Evaluation of Management Procedures for Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasii) in the Strait of Georgia and West Coast of Vancouver Island Management Areas of British Columbia.

Science Response 2021/013 (PDF, 2,162 KB)

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