Atlantic Fisheries Research Document 1996/091
An Assessment of the cod stock in NAFO subdivision 3Ps
By P.A. Shelton; D.E. Stansbury; E.F. Murphy; J. Brattey; G.R. Lilly
Abstract
A moratorium on commercial fishing on this stock has been in effect since 1993. The assessment has been plagued by highly variable survey estimates of minimum trawlable biomass. This is thought to be due, in part, to variability in the seasonal distribution of fish relative to the timing of the surveys. In recent years, biomass has been found to be low throughout the survey area, particularly on St. Pierre Bank. The only place that fish have been found in any abundance is in deep water along the southern edges of the survey area and the slopes in the vicinity of Burgeo Bank. The decline and continuing low biomass in the offshore conflicts with trends in inshore catch rates and results of the 1995 and early 1996 Sentinel survey. An attempt was made to carry out separate quantitative analyses of inshore and offshore subcomponents, but the results from these analyses , and the underlying assumption of separability on which they are based, were considered too tenuous and uncertain to provide a quantitative estimate of current stock size or of an F0.1 catch for 1997. From a qualitative evaluation of the available data it was concluded that a limited re-opening of the inshore fixed gear fishery may not compromise the recovery of the stock.
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