Research Document 1998/79

Scallop production area 3: 1997 stock assessment (Brier Island and Lurcher Shoal)

By E. Kenchington and M.J. Lundy

Abstract

This document presents the results and analysis of the 1997 scallop stock survey in Scallop Production Area 3 off Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Survey biomass and abundance is calculated and used to evaluate stock status, exploitation levels, stock outlook and the impact of the management restrictions.

The 1997 survey identified a strong 1995 year class distributed in the shallow water areas over most of the grounds. This year class will recruit to the gear in 1998, but yield per recruit analysis (Kenchington et al. 1997) recommends fishing the scallops at age 7. This year class will be vulnerable to growth overfishing on the present blended meat count of 45/500 g. A straight count of 45/500 g would protect this year class. The survey total fishable biomass (Age 5+) in Area 3 is approximately 414 mt. The survey total number of animals available to the fishery (Age 5+) is approximately 41 million. Extrapolations to population biomass were made but are thought to be unreliable due to poor estimates of q.

Exploitation rate on the 4+/5+ age groups on both beds decreased dramatically to approximately 20% from 45% in the previous year, while exploitation of the 5+/6+ animals was similar to 1996 on the Brier Island beds, but fell sharply on the Lurcher grounds. CPUE was the lowest on record for this area and effort in terms of the number of hours fished increased over the 1996 level. 71% of the 99 Full Bay vessels licenced to fish in this area did so in 1997.

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