Terms of Reference

Assessment of Buffalo River Inconnu, (Stenodus leucichthys), Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories

Regional Advisory Meeting

March 30-31, 2010

Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Chairperson: Michael Papst

Background

There was a targeted fishery for Inconnu, Stenodus leucichthys, from the Buffalo River in the late 1970s, but currently their harvest occurs as a result of bycatch in the Great Slave Lake (GSL) Lake Whitefish commercial gillnet fishery.  Historically, Inconnu were highly vulnerable to commercial gillnets when fish were concentrated at the mouth of the Buffalo River, which lies on the south shore of GSL.  A series of area closures along the south shore of GSL have been instituted and expanded to reduce the bycatch of this species in the commercial Lake Whitefish fishery. The recreational and subsistence fisheries are thought to take few Inconnu.  And although it is unknown how much Inconnu the domestic fishery may harvest, the impact is thought to be minimal.

Historical tagging data from the 1970s, as well as recent studies from the 1990s to the present, strongly suggested that approximately 90% of Inconnu harvested in management areas IE, IW, II and III of the GSL West Basin were from the Buffalo River stock.  It is believed that the stock is recovering very slowly based on analyses of the biological data collected from 1947 to the present.  Size and age structure, and the percentage of mature females in annual samples, have improved after the heavy harvesting years of 1978 and 1979 and since fisheries management initiated the area closures in the early 1990s.  While this is encouraging, the index of abundance based on catch per unit effort has not improved significantly since 1997. 

Objectives

The following objectives will be addressed:

• Assess and report on the current status of the Buffalo River Inconnu stock including a review of past and new information, based on:
• Spring biological assessment;
• Spring tagging results;
• Other past projects.
• Provide recommendations on limit reference points for Buffalo River Inconnu that are consistent with the requirements outlined in the Decision Making Framework incorporating the Precautionary Approach.  A rationale for the proposed indices will also be included;
• Provide harvest level recommendations for Buffalo River Inconnu for each of the identified limit reference points;
• Provide an indication of the current Buffalo River Inconnu stock status within the Precautionary Approach Framework (i.e. which management zone Buffalo River Inconnu is currently in);
• Highlight major sources of uncertainty in the assessment, and where appropriate, consider alternative analytical formulations of the assessment;
• Identify and prioritize requirements for the collection of new information, monitoring, or improved data collection.
• Based on the review and interpretation of the scientific information presented, provide advice and/or recommendations on a harvest strategy for Great Slave Lake Whitefish in Areas 1E, 1W, II and III, to ensure the conservation of inconnu.

Products

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

Participants

Participants from DFO Science and Fisheries Management, the Great Slave Lake Advisory Committee, local communities, and external experts are invited.