Research Document 1997/113
The status of redfish in Unit 2 (Laurentian Channel Management Unit).
By D. Power and D. Orr
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 9,000 metric tons in 1996 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 1997, slightly below the 1994 level. Current commercial catches are composed primarily of the early 1980s year-class(es) that have been fished for about eight years. The next anticipated pulse of recruitment (the 1988 year-class) is now becoming increasingly vulnerable to the fishery. Its contribution to the fishable stock will 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 from the 1997 summer survey suggests that a catch of 10,000 t in 1998 is not likely to be higher than the catch associated with fishing at F0.1. A pulse of recruitment was observed in the 1997 survey but will require a few years of monitoring before its relative strength can be related to other year classes comprising the commercial fishery.
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