Terms of Reference

Assessment of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (NAFO Division 4T-4Vn) spring and fall spawner components of Atlantic Herring (Clupea harengus) with advice for the 2022 and 2023 fisheries

Regional Advisory Meeting – Gulf Region

March 22-23, 2022
Virtual Meeting

Chairperson: Rémi Sonier

Context

The assessment of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (sGSL; NAFO Div. 4T) is conducted on a two-year cycle. The most recent peer review meeting of the assessment of Atlantic herring in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence was conducted in March 2020 to provide advice for the 2020 and 2021 fisheries (DFO 2020; Turcotte et al. 2021, Turcotte et al. 2021).

In support of a request for science advice from DFO Resource Management, DFO Gulf Science Branch will review the status to 2021 of the spring spawning and fall spawning components of the Atlantic herring stock of the of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, NAFO Division 4T and provide advice for the 2022 and 2023 fisheries years.

Objectives

Assessment of the status of the spring and fall spawning components of Atlantic herring of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (NAFO Div. 4T) including:

• Information on catches to the end of 2021, including best estimates of total removals by all fisheries;
• Review of a new method to estimate biomass indices of NAFO Division 4T fall spawning Atlantic Herring from hydroacoustic surveys on spawning grounds;
• Key indicators of stock status and trends (commercial catch rates, survey indices, size and/or age composition, etc.);
• Results of the population model(s) for spring and fall spawning components to provide estimates of abundance, including stocks trajectories;
• Table of projections for each of the spring and fall spawning component to grow out of the critical (spring) and cautious (fall) zone of the PA under various catch scenarios for 2022, 2023, and 2027 (six year projection based on the biology of the species, i.e. equivalent to two generations);
• Ecosystem considerations including variations in life history parameters , species interactions (e.g. predators, prey) and environmental conditions that affect growth, survival, recruitment, and recruitment rates of herring in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Expected Publications

• Research Document
• Science Advisory Report

Expected Participation

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) (Science Branch and Ecosystems and Fisheries Management)
• Indigenous organizations
• Fishing industry
• Invited external experts
• Provincial governments

References

• DFO. 2020. Assessment of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (NAFO Division 4T-4Vn) spring and fall spawner components of Atlantic Herring (Clupea harengus) with advice for the 2020 and 2021 fisheries. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2020/029.
• Turcotte, F., Swain, D.P., McDermid, J.L., and DeJong, R.A. 2021. Assessment of the NAFO Division 4TVn southern Gulf of St. Lawrence Atlantic Herring (Clupea harengus) in 2018- 2019. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2021/030. xiv + 158 p.
• Turcotte, F., Swain, D. P., and McDermid, J. L. 2021. NAFO 4TVn Atlantic herring population models: from Virtual Population Analysis to Statistical Catch-at-Age estimating time-varying natural mortality. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2021/029. vi + 52 p.