Research Document - 1999/112

Resource status of northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) off Baffin Island, Labrador and northeastern Newfoundland second interim review.

By D.G. Parsons, P.J. Veitch and G.T. Evans

Abstract

Assessments of northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) were performed for shrimp fishing areas 2, 4, 5 and 6 which correspond to Division 0B, Division 2G, Hopedale + Cartwright Channels and Hawke Channel + Division 3K, respectively. Within each area, status of the resource was inferred partly by examining trends in commercial catch, effort, catch per unit effort, fishing pattern and size/sex/age composition of the catches. Also, multispecies research trawl surveys conducted from 1995 to 1998, inclusive, provided information on distribution, abundance and biomass of shrimp in Hawke Channel + Div. 3K for all four years, in Hopedale + Cartwright from 1996 to 1998 and in Div. 2G for 1996 and 1997.

In 1998, the northern shrimp fishery again performed well and the inshore vessel component, initiated in 1997, was increased. Catch rates of offshore vessels in the Hopedale + Cartwright and Hawke + 3K areas remained at the historically high level seen in recent years. Research surveys showed that abundance/biomass in 1998 remained high relative to catch in both these areas but the survey estimates for Hopedale + Cartwright were imprecise. Within Div. 2G, catch rates fluctuated about a high level since 1991 and a healthy spawning stock has been maintained in recent years. Low survey coverage limits the usefulness of research vessel data. The status of the resource in Div. 0B remains uncertain in the absence of information from research trawl surveys but recent catch rates are at a historically high level.

It was concluded that the shrimp resource in Hawke Channel + Div. 3K is currently healthy and prospects for the 1999 fishery seem favourable. However, the 1995 and 1996 year classes do not appear to be as strong as those produced in the early 1990's and reduced recruitment, beginning in 1999 and continuing into the next millennium, is possible. There was no scientific basis for changes in total allowable catches in Hopedale + Cartwright, Div. 2G and Div. 0B for 1999. The experimental fishery in Div. 0B has been confined to the area south of 63⁰ N in recent years.

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