Research Document 1997/55

Assessment of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder

By J.D. Neilson, S. Gavaris, and J.J. Hunt

Abstract

Yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea) on Georges Bank is a transboundary resource which has supported a directed Canadian fishery since 1993. Removals of yellowtail flounder peaked in 1994, when 2139 t were landed. Quota regulation commenced in 1995. Landings in 1996 were 483 t (including an estimated 11 t of regulatory discards from the scallop fishery) against a quota of 430 t. The fishery is prosecuted almost exclusively by vessels <65' fishing otter trawls.

Resource status was determined by virtual population and surplus production analyses. The latter approach, which does not require age structured input data, was included because of uncertainties in the catch at age information. Both methods indicated that biomass decreased to under 4000 t in the late 1980s' and has been recovering since then. In 1996, biomass was estimated as 10,365 and 13,495 t from the surplus production and VPA models, respectively. Exploitation rate was well above the target level of 20% during the 1983 to 1987 period, declined somewhat during the 1988 to 1994 period, and in 1995-1996 was at the lowest values observed in the series. The VPA indicates that the 1995 year-class is the weakest since 1986, but the observation is inconsistent with 1997 Canadian survey results. Status quo yield projections for 1997 range between 1053-2014 t for the VPA and surplus production models, respectively. Fishing at F_0.1 in 1997 implies a yields of 2470 and 4526 t for the VPA and surplus production models, respectively. All yields are for combined Canada and USA landings.

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