Research Document - 2000/063

An assessment of the cod stock in NAFO Divisions 2J+3KL.

By G.R. Lilly, P.A. Shelton, J. Brattey, N.G. Cadigan, E.F. Murphy, and D.E. Stansbury

Abstract

The status of the 2J+3KL cod stock is updated based on catch rates from the re-opened fishery in the inshore and an additional year of research bottom-trawl surveys, prerecruit surveys, acoustic surveys in specific areas, sentinel surveys and returns from tagging studies. The size of the stock as a whole and the size of incoming year-classes remain low relative to levels in the 1980s. On the basis of the current distribution of fish and new information on genetics, it was concluded that information on stock status should be provided for the inshore and offshore separately. In the offshore, biomass remains extremely low. There are very few fish larger than 50 cm and older than age 5. In the inshore, sentinel surveys and the commercial fishery have found very few fish in 2J and north of White Bay in 3K. From White Bay to the southern boundary of the stock, fish exist in sufficient density to enable moderate to high catch rates in some times and places. Catch rates in the gillnet sentinel surveys increased from 1995 to 1998 and declined by half from 1998 to 1999. The biomass calculated from tag returns and catches was estimated to be at most 55,000 t in the inshore of 3K and northern 3L. An estimate could not be produced for southern 3L because of the strong seasonal contribution of fish from 3Ps.

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