Terms of Reference

Advice on opportunity for Atlantic silverside and Atlantic saury fisheries in the Nova Scotia portion of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence

Regional Advisory Meeting (Gulf)

December 15-16, 2009

343 University Avenue

Moncton, NB

Chairperson: Claude LeBlanc

Background

DFO Fisheries and Aquaculture Management (FAM) has asked whether there are opportunities for an Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia) fishery and for a directed Atlantic saury (Scomberesox saurus) fishery in Gulf Nova Scotia. Both these species are generally considered to be prey for many other components of the ecosystem. Two commercial fishery licences for silverside and an exploratory licence for Atlantic saury have been issued in Gulf Region Nova Scotia. There is a well established Atlantic silverside fishery in Gulf Region Prince Edward Island which dates to the 1970’s. Due to their positions in the foodweb and the new nature of the fishing requests, fisheries on these should adhere to the “Policy On New Fisheries For Forage Species”. This policy provides a framework to ensure that fisheries on forage species are conducted in ways which are compatible with conservation of the full ecosystem.

Fisheries on forage species should be designed to ensure a high likelihood that five objectives are achieved:

• maintenance of target, bycatch, and ecologically dependent species within the bounds of natural fluctuations in abundance;
• maintenance of ecological relationships (e.g predator-prey and competition) among species affected directly or indirectly by the fishery within the bounds of natural fluctuations in these relationships;
• minimization of the risk of changes to species’ abundances or relationships which are difficult or impossible to reverse;
• maintenance of full reproductive potential of the forage species, including genetic diversity and geographic population structure,
• allowance of opportunities to conduct commercially viable fisheries.

A science review of the Atlantic silverside fishery in PEI was last conducted in 1997. No assessments of Atlantic saury have been conducted in eastern Canada. A workshop on ecosystem considerations for krill and other forage fisheries was conducted in 1997 and recommendations for evaluating forage species fishery requests were provided. The following meeting objectives are based on the recommendations from that science review.

Objectives

The science review will consider the following questions, guided by the previous science review of forage species fisheries (DFO 1997), relative to Atlantic silverside and Atlantic saury:

1. Status of existing fisheries in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (licences, locations, landings, gaps in information from the fishery).
2. Overview of species biology and ecology – does it qualify as a forage species based on definitions in the “Policy for New Fisheries For Forage Species”?
3. Under what conditions would a fishery be compatible with the “Policy for New Fisheries For Forage Species” and the previous science advice on forage species fisheries?
4. Identification of knowledge gaps and recommended research to address these gaps.

Working papers for each species (Atlantic silverside, Atlantic saury) will be prepared for review and made available to meeting participants one week before the meeting date.

Products

Expected outputs of the meeting are a single advisory report, a proceedings and two research documents. The advisory report will be available within eight weeks of the science review. All the products of the meeting will be published on the CSAS website.

Participation

DFO, provincial governments, academia, industry and aboriginal experts are invited to this meeting.

References

Cairns, D.K. 1997. A biological review of commercial diadromous fisheries of Prince Edward Island. DFO Atlantic Fisheries Research Document 97/7.

DFO 1997. Prince Edward Island Eels, Gaspereau, Silversides and Smelts. DFO Science Stock Status Report D3-18.

DFO. 1997. Proceedings Of The Workshop On Ecosystem Considerations For Krill And Other Forage Fisheries. DFO Canadian Stock Assessment Secretariat Proceedings Series 97/5.

DFO. 2009. POLICY ON NEW FISHERIES FOR FORAGE SPECIES. (2009-03-13)