Research Document - 1999/117

Status (1960-1997) of alewife and blueback herring stocks in the Scotia Fundy area as indicated by catch effort statistics.

By B. Jessop

Abstract

The status of alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and blueback herring (A. aestivalis) stocks in Scotia-Fundy area, based on trends in reported fisheries landings, licences issued, and catch-per-unit-of-effort, varied greatly within individual rivers and regionally. Alewives occur in more rivers and in higher proportion than do blueback herring. The largest catches of alewives occurred in the Saint John and Tusket rivers. High intraregional variability exists in the choice of gear type - set and drift gill nets, dip net, and trap net. Gill net fisheries are most active in the mouths of larger rivers, dip nets are most frequent near the mouths of small-to-moderately-large rivers, and trap nets are confined primarily to the inland waters of the large Saint John River. A change during the mid-1980s from the use of sales slips and Supplementary B catch estimate reports to the use of logbooks by individual fishermen and the unenforceable nature of the requirement for logbook use, until 1993, when changes were made to the Fishery (General) Regulations, resulted in a substantial underestimate of true catches during this transition period. In recent years, reported landings have generally declined except in the Tusket River. Fishing effort has fluctuated greatly and catch-per-unit-effort declined before recovering slightly. Reduced fishing effort may be required to improve spawning escapements and ultimately to increase future catches in many rivers.

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