Impact of hook size on Atlantic Halibut catches

Description

In Quebec, DFO is considering a regulation that would harmonize hook size across commercial long line fisheries to facilitate handling of fishing gear and improve bycatch management. Currently, fishers use hooks with a 15.4mm size opening for halibut and smaller, 12.6 mm hooks to harvest cod. At the request of industry, Mathieu Desgagnés, based at the Maurice Lamontagne Institute in Mont-Joli, Quebec, is researching how the change to smaller hooks might change the structure of Atlantic Halibut catch sizes; increase mortality in small fish (i.e., sub-legal size/less than 85 cm long), and impact the type and quantity of bycatch. Bycatch data are used to assess ecosystem impacts of fishing and are analyzed in the eco-certification process. Research results will be reviewed by industry at a meeting with DFO Fisheries Management whose goal with proposed hook harmonization is to balance optimal economic benefits to industry while preserving the ability to increase stock abundance. Knowledge about size-selectivity patterns before and after the regulatory amendment will reduce uncertainty in adjusting a population model for Atlantic Halibut and will allow for the use of all historical series of abundance indices in stock assessment. A research report will be published by DFO’s Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat.

Program Name

Fisheries Science Collaborative Program (FSCP)

Year(s)

2017

Ecoregion(s)

Gulf of St. Lawrence, 4RST

Principal Investigator(s)

Mathieu Desgagnés
Quebec Region

Co-leader(s)

Jean-Pierre Couillard
Association des capitaines-propriétaires de la Gaspésie