Research Document - 2003/076

Assessment of Haddock on Eastern Georges Bank

By Van Eeckhaute, L., Gavaris, S. and Brodziak, J.

Abstract

Haddock catches from eastern Georges Bank fluctuated around 5,000 t from 1985 to 1990.  Under restrictive management measures, combined Canada/USA catches declined from over 6,400 t in 1991 to a low of about 2,100 t in 1995, fluctuated between about 3,000 t and 4,000 t until 1999 and have since increased to about 7,500 t.

Adult population biomass (ages 3+) has steadily increased from near an historical low of about 10,000 t in 1993 to about 78,000 t at the beginning of 2003 but remains below the average biomass during 1930-55. The recent increase was supported by improved recruitment in the 1990's. The 2000 year-class is estimated to be larger than the strong 1975 and 1978 year-classes. The fishing mortality rate for fully recruited ages 4+ has consistently been below the threshold reference target (Fref) of 0.26 since 1995. Reduced fishing mortality and avoidance of small fish in the fisheries in recent years has resulted in increased survival of incoming year-classes and greater abundance at older ages.

With an assumed total catch of 8,000 t in 2003, a combined Canada/USA catch of 8,000 t in 2004 would result in a low probability that the fishing mortality rate in 2004 will exceed Fref. At this yield, there is a negligible probability of achieving a 10% biomass increase from 2004 to 2005, due to the 2 weak incoming year-classes, 2001 and 2002, but there is a low probability that the biomass will fall below the median 2005 rebuilding biomass of 65,000 t. The population age structure shows good representation at all ages.

Complete document (PDF, 939 KB)

Accessibility Notice

This document is available in PDF format. If the document is not accessible to you, please contact the Secretariat to obtain another appropriate format, such as regular print, large print, Braille or audio version.