Terms of Reference

Evaluation of Management Procedures for the Inside Population of Yelloweye Rockfish Rebuilding Plan

Regional Peer Review – Pacific Region

June 10-11, 2020
Virtual meeting

Chairperson: Steve Schut

Context

As part of the Sustainable Fisheries Framework, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has developed “A Fisheries Decision-Making Framework Incorporating the Precautionary Approach” (DFO 2009), and “Guidance for the Development of Rebuilding Plans under the Precautionary Approach Framework” (DFO 2013). These documents outline the departmental policy and guidelines for applying the precautionary approach (PA) to Canadian fisheries. A key component of the PA Policy requires that when a stock has reached or fallen below a Limit Reference Point (LRP), a rebuilding plan must be in place with the aim of having a high probability of the stock growing above the LRP within a specified timeframe.

Canadian fish stocks that have been assessed as being below the LRP require a rebuilding plan to rebuild the stock out of the Critical Zone. The Department's guidance document for the development of rebuilding plans (DFO 2013) states that rebuilding plans should include short- and long-term objectives. Rebuilding plans should also include planned management measures, milestone objectives and undergo regular (no more than three years) performance reviews, in addition to annual monitoring and evaluation.

The inside population of Yelloweye Rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus), situated within Groundfish Management Area 4B, is a data-limited stock caught primarily in the hook and line commercial groundfish fisheries, Food Social and Ceremonial fisheries, and recreational fisheries. The population was last assessed in 2011 as being below the LRP (Yamanaka et al. 2011, DFO 2012). A rebuilding plan for the population was developed and published in Appendix 9 of the Pacific Region Integrated Fishery Management Plan (IFMP) for Groundfish (DFO 2018).

The DFO Fisheries Management Branch has requested that Science Branch develop advice to inform a rebuilding plan consistent with the DFO (2013) guidance document. This advice will include a review and updating of rebuilding objectives for the inside Yelloweye Rockfish population and fisheries, and development of an analytical framework for evaluating candidate management procedures against the rebuilding objectives.

The advice arising from this Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) Regional Peer Review (RPR), will be used to revise the rebuilding plan for the inside population of Yelloweye Rockfish. The inside population of Yelloweye Rockfish is listed under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) as Special Concern, and is anticipated to be reassessed by COSEWIC in 2020 (Keppel and Olsen 2019). A SARA Management Plan is currently under development. Results of this rebuilding plan may inform a COSEWIC reassessment, a SARA Recovery Potential Assessment, and a possible SARA listing decision for the Inside Population.

Objectives

The following working paper will be reviewed and provide the basis for discussion and advice on the specific objectives outlined below.

Forrest, R.E., Haggarty, D.R, Bresch, M., Anderson, S. and Huynh, Q. 2020. Evaluation of Management Procedures for the Inside Population of Yelloweye Rockfish Rebuilding Plan. CSAP Working Paper 2019GRF01.

The specific objectives of this paper and review are to:

Develop a set of candidate management objectives and corresponding performance metrics for the Inside Yelloweye Rockfish population and fisheries, in support of the development of a rebuilding plan under the Sustainable Fisheries Framework policies, a COSEWIC Recovery Potential Analysis, and a possible SARA listing decision.
Develop one or more Operating Model(s) (OM) using the software DMtool (Carruthers and Hordyk 2018) to represent alternative hypotheses for the structure and dynamics of the Inside Yelloweye Rockfish stock and fishery (e.g., processes determining annual stock biomass, recruitment, fishing mortality, and biological reference points).
Recommend biological reference points, as built into the performance metrics, that are scientifically defensible and appropriate given the available data and management needs.
Develop a closed-loop simulation approach using the software DLMtool (Carruthers and Hordyk 2018) to evaluate the performance of candidate management procedures (MPs) with respect to achieving objectives developed in (#1). MPs may include a variety of methods for determining removals including fixed Total Allowable Catches (TACs), data-limited methods or simple models (e.g., surplus production models).
Recommend an appropriate interval between formal stock assessments and/or triggers of an earlier than scheduled assessment. Provide a rationale if indicators and triggers cannot be identified.
Examine, identify, and report on uncertainties in the data and methods.

Expected Publications

Science Advisory Report
Proceedings
Research Document

Expected Participation

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Ecosystems and Oceans Science, Species at Risk, and Fisheries Management sectors)
Province of British Columbia
Academics
Indigenous organizations
Industry (commercial fishing industry)
NOAA/Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

References

Carruthers, T.R., and Hordyk, A.R. 2018. The Data-Limited Methods Toolkit (DLMtool): An R package for informing management of data-limited populations. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 9(12): 2388–2395. doi:10.1111/2041-210X.13081.

DFO. 2009. A Fishery Decision-Making Framework Incorporating the Precautionary Approach. Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

DFO. 2012. Stock Assessment for the inside population of Yelloweye Rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) In British Columbia, Canada for 2010. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2011/084 13p.

DFO. 2013. Guidance for the development of rebuilding plans under the precautionary approach framework: growing stocks out of the critical zone.

DFO. 2015. Stock Assessment for the Outside population of Yelloweye Rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) for British Columbia, Canada in 2014. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2015/060.

DFO. 2018. Pacific Region integrated fisheries management plan, groundfish, effective February 21, 2018.

Keppel, E.A. and Olsen, N. 2019. Pre-COSEWIC review of Yelloweye Rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) along the Pacific coast of Canada: biology, distribution and abundance trends. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2019/014. ix + 109 p.

Yamanaka, K. L., M. K. McAllister, P. F. Olesiuk, M.-P. Etienne, S. G. Obdradovich, and R. Haigh. 2011. Stock Assessment for the inside population of yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) in British Columbia, Canada for 2010. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2011/129. xiii + 131 p.