Terms of Reference

National Workshop

Pre-COSEWIC Assessment of Atlantic Cod

Zonal Peer Review Meeting

Lord Nelson Hotel, Halifax, NS November 3-5, 2008

Co-Chairs: Tana Worcester and Kent Smedbol

Terms of Reference

Background

In April 1998, Atlantic cod was assessed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) as a single unit and designated Special Concern. The species was split into separate populations (Designatable Units, DU) in May 2003 and each DU was assessed separately. The Newfoundland and Labrador population was designated Endangered, the Laurentian North population was designated Threatened, and the Arctic and Maritimes populations were designated as Special Concern.

Normally, COSEWIC reassesses species status every ten years. However, SARA (Species at Risk Act) requires COSEWIC to reassess species that may have changed in status. Given that several recent assessments of Atlantic cod populations have indicated further population decline, COSEWIC has decided to reassess the Atlantic cod as a whole (i.e., all DUs).

The Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO), as the primary generator and archivist of information on marine aquatic species and some freshwater aquatic species, is to provide COSEWIC with the best information available to ensure that an accurate assessment of the status of a species can be undertaken.

Objectives

The overall objective of this meeting is to peerreview information relevant to the upcoming COSEWIC status assessment for Atlantic cod (Arctic, Newfoundland and Labrador, Laurentian North, and Maritimes DUs), considering data related to the status and trends of abundance and distribution, as well as the strengths and limitations of this information. The products of this meeting will be made available to COSEWIC, the authors of the status report, and the Chairs of the Marine Fishes COSEWIC Species Specialist Subcommittee.

More specifically, the intent of this meeting is to clearly document:

1. What is the current status of Atlantic cod (NAFO Units OAB, 2GH, 2J3KL, 3NO, 3Ps, 3Pn4RS, 4X, 4Vn, 4VsW, 4T, and 5Z)?

• Summarize overall trends in population size (both number of mature individuals and total numbers in the population) over as long a period as possible (including the pre-collapse period).
• This should include indices of relative abundance of adults from surveys for each population. In addition, this should include a time series of adult abundance for each stock based on population models (e.g., SPA estimates of adult abundance).
• In addition, this should include a time series of adult abundance for each stock based on population models (e.g., SPA estimates of adult abundance).

2. What is the current area of occupancy for Atlantic cod and has this changed over time?

3. Have there been any changes in (or new information on) the life-history characteristics of Atlantic cod since the last COSEWIC assessment, e.g., natural mortality?

4. What new information is available on threats, particularly fishery removals and fishing mortality since the last COSEWIC assessment?

5. Is there any new information on population differentiation that may influence an assessment of the boundaries of the Designatable Units for Atlantic cod? See COSEWIC 2005 “Guidelines for Recognizing Designatable Units below the Species Level” (Appendix 1 attached).

Products

CSAS Proceedings

CSAS Research Document

Participants

DFO Science: Maritimes, Newfoundland, Central and Arctic, Gulf, Quebec, and NHQ

DFO Fisheries and Aquaculture Management DFO Species at Risk Program COSEWIC