Atlantic Fisheries Research Document 1996/063

Newfoundland east and southeast coast herring - an assessment of stocks to the spring of 1995

By J.P. Wheeler; G.H. Winters

Abstract

Results of the analysis of data from 1994 and the spring of 1995 are presented for five herring stock complexes assessed within the Newfoundland region. Commercial landings in 1994 were unchanged from 1993 at approximately 5500 t. The 1987 yearclass of spring spawners continued as the dominant yearclass in the commercial fishery in the northern areas, while in the south, the 1982 yearclass of spring spawners was dominant. As in the last assessment, stock abundances were estimated using an extended survivors analysis. Yearclass strengths were estimated using a multiplicative model and a stock-recruit relationship. A stock status classification system was also developed which links exploitation rates to recruitment estimates at given spawning stock levels. All of these herring stocks are at relatively low levels. There is no evidence of strong recruitment of yearclasses produced in the 1990's and it is therefore unlikely that biomass levels will increase significantly within the next few years

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