Atlantic Fisheries Research Document 1996/015

1995 Bay of Fundy scallop stock assessments: Brier Island and Lurcher Shoal

By E. Kenchington; M.J. Lundy

Abstract

Landings in the Brier Island and Lurcher Shoal area increased each year from 1991 through to 1994, but declined sharply in 1995 to 772 mt. The landings from these stocks are currently the mainstay of the Bay of Fundy fishery, supplying 63% of the 1995 catch. The majority of the landings came from the Brier Island bed (above 44°N) as was the case in 1994. Log compliance in 1995 was 77%, and of those filing logbooks, 69% fished below Brier Island at some time during the year. This is a decline of approximately 10% from 1994. Thus, while the Brier Island and Lurcher beds provide the largest component of the total landings by the Full Bay fleet, the total landings from this area, the number of vessels fishing in this area, and the percentage of the total landings are all down from 1994. CPUE fell by approximately 39% to 10.6 and 10.4 kg per hour for Brier Island and Lurcher Shoal respectively. These values are considered to be low relative to earlier performance in this area, and off Digby. Effort (hours) increased steadily on both beds until 1994. Effort in 1995 remains high at approximately 75,000 hours, but is down from the 1994 values.

Scallop abundance estimated from the research vessel survey declined dramatically in 1995. The 1995 survey catch was only 18% of the 1994 survey on the Brier Island beds, and 50% of that surveyed in 1994 on the Lurcher beds. There was no evidence of a strong pre-recruit year class, and the absolute number of pre-recruit scallops relative to adult abundance is the lowest on record for this area.

Improvements to the growth curves are made, and data on gono-somatic indices and meat yield relationships are presented.

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