Science Advisory Report  2015/031

Assessment of the Stimpson’s surfclam stocks of Quebec coastal waters in 2014

Summary

• Mean annual Stimpson's Surfclam landings in Quebec totalled 812 t from 2012 to 2014, an 8% decrease compared with the 2009-2011 period. 90% of the landings were from the North Shore and 10% from the Magdalen Islands.
• On average, over 80% of the annual total allowable catch (TAC) was reached in areas 3A, 3B and 4B. There was no fishery in Area 1A in 2014 and in 1B in 2013 and 2014. Areas 4C and 5A were not exploited.
• Mean catches per unit effort (CPUE) and sizes of surfclams landed from 2012 to 2014 were above the time series medians for areas 1B, 3A and 3B, but below them for Areas 2, 4A and 5B. For Areas 1A and 4B, CPUEs were below and sizes were above the series medians.
• Until now, throughout each area, fishers were able to maintain good yields by moving over a same bed or from one bed to another.
• The zonal exploitation rate based on the dredged surface area is above the recommended limit value of 3% in Areas 3A (3.4%), 4B (3.8%) and 5B (4.8%). In addition, in the other areas, this rate was over 3% for some beds.
• According to the existing decision rule, only Area 3B meets all the conditions for a quota increase of 6%.
• For Areas 4A and 5B, the indicators suggest that local fishing effort is too high.
• As a precautionary measure, portions of beds with concentrations of pre-commercial size (80 mm) surfclams should be protected from the fishery given the species' low productivity. In addition, the fishing effort in one area should be distributed between beds in that area to limit the exploitation rate locally.

This Science Advisory Report is from the March 11, 2015 meeting on the Assessment of the Stimpson’s surfclam fishery in the Quebec’s inshore waters. Additional publications from this meeting will be posted on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Science Advisory Schedule as they become available.

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