Terms of Reference

Isuituq Arctic Char Assessment

Regional Advisory Meeting

March 24-25, 2010

Pangnirtung, Nunavut

Chairperson: Mike Papst

Background

The Isuituq River is one of several water bodies in the Cumberland Sound area that is presently fished for Arctic Char under an exploratory fishing licence, mainly at the mouth of the river at the head of Clearwater Fiord. The objective of fishing under an exploratory licence (Stage II) is to determine whether a population can sustain a commercially viable operation and to collect biological data in order to build a preliminary database on stock abundance and distribution. An analysis of biological (age, length and weights) and catch and effort data allows Science to assess the status of Arctic Char populations, vulnerability to exploitation at exploratory harvests rates, and advise on converting an exploratory fishery to a commercial fishery. Such data also provides a reliable baseline for future fisheries stock assessments. Biological and catch and effort data are requested as a licence condition for exploratory fisheries following a five-year exploratory fishery protocol. For some waterbodies, these types of data are also collected through Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Science's stock assessment research program as fishery independent sampling. This is the case in the Isuituq system. Fisheries and Aquaculture Management (FAM) Sector of DFO has requested that Science provide an updated summary of information collected from Cumberland Sound Arctic Char stocks. This Regional Advisory Process (RAP) will provide an update on the status of Isuituq Arctic Char and recommend a long-term plan for this fishery.

Objectives

The following objectives will be addressed:

• Assess and report on the current status of Isuituq system Arctic Char, including a review of all new information;
• Highlight sources of uncertainty in the assessment, and where appropriate, consider alternative analytical analyses for the assessment;
• Provide advice on the transition of the exploratory fishery into a commercial fishery, which would include a total sustainable harvest level for Isuituq Arctic Char;
• Develop a plan to assess the long-term sustainability of the commercial fishery (i.e., identify the information needs, timeframes, etc. including environmental monitoring protocols relevant to the sustainability of the fishery).

Products

A Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) Research Document will be produced from the working paper and will be presented and reviewed at the meeting. The advice from the meeting will be published as a Science Advisory Report. Finally, a proceedings report summarizing the deliberations of the participants will be published in the CSAS Proceedings Series.

Invited Participants

Invitations will be sent to Pangnirtung fish harvesters, Pangnirtung Hunters and Trappers Organization (HTO), Government of Nunavut (Fisheries and Sealing), Pangnirtung Fisheries Ltd., DFO Science and Fisheries Management and an external expert from the University of British Columbia.