Atlantic Fisheries Research Document 1996/113
Redfish in Unit 2 (Laurentian Channel Management Unit)
By D. Power; D.B. Atkinson; W.B. Brodie
Abstract
The implementation of this new management unit in 1993 caused a change in fishing pattern from that generally in place under the former 3P, 4RST, and 4VWX units. Fishing pattern has also been impacted more recently by seasonal closures and a small fish protocol. Catches have steadily increased from about 8,100 t in 1984 to 27,000 metric tons in 1993 and have declined subsequently to 12,000 metric tons in 1995 closely matching reductions in TACs over the same period. Summer research surveys that cover most of Unit 2 indicate that stock size remained stable between 1995 and 1996, slightly below the 1994 level. Current commercial catches are composed primarily of the early 1980s year-class(es) which have been fished for about seven years. Accordingly, this stock is probably lower that it has been in recent years. Its immediate future is dependent on the abundance of the next anticipated pulse of recruitment (the 1988 year-class) which was partly exploited in 1995. However, their contribution is likely to be less than that of the year-class(es) of the early 1980s. It is not possible to provide an estimate of the absolute size of this stock; therefore, it is not possible to estimate fishing mortalities for the past. The ratio of catch to estimated exploitable biomass index derived form the 1996 summer suggests that a catch of 10,000 t would generate an exploitation rate of about 10% in 1997. There are no signs of good recruitment subsequent to the 1998 year-class.
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