Research Document 1998/146

Quota options and recommendations for the 1999 and 2000 geoduck clam fisheries

By C.M. Hand, B.G. Vaughan, and S. Heizer

Abstract

Geoduck (Panopea abrupta, Conrad 1849) stocks were examined and quota options presented for the north coast, west coast of Vancouver Island, and waters inside Vancouver Island for 1999 and 2000. The assessment methodology is unchanged from previous assessments, where the area of geoduck habitat reported by fishers, estimates of geoduck densities from surveys and mean geoduck weights from market samples form the basis of biomass estimates, and a fixed sustainable harvest rate is applied to derive quota options. Changes in the estimates of biomass result from updated geoduck density estimates from survey data, updated estimates of mean geoduck weight from commercial market samples, and new estimates of geoduck harvest areas from recent harvest log data and from re-measurements of all pre-existing geoduck beds. The approach initiated in 1994 of reducing quotas where overharvesting had occurred, according to stock status relative to a 50-year cycle, was continued coastwide. A range of quota options are presented, based on the uncertainty around mean geoduck densities, around mean geoduck weights and around geoduck bed area.

For the 1999 fishery, recommended low, medium and high quota options are 2,260,000 lb, 4,241,000 lb and 6,886,000 lb. Quota options for the 2000 fishery are 1,865,000 lb, 3,679,000 lb and 6,127,000 lb.

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