Cod tagging pilot project (northwestern Gulf – 4S)

Description

Cod from the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence stock (NAFO 3Pn, 4RS) are tagged in Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) area 4R, but not 4S or 3Pn. The NAFO area 4S cod abundance appears to be approaching the level of that in 4R (although at a lower density), so DFO and the industry are tagging 4S cod. These data will support decision-making on exploitation and conservation of cod stocks in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence. Claude Brassard of the Maurice Lamontagne Institute in Mont-Joli, Quebec leads the pilot project to apply 800 external “spaghetti tags” annually to cod in the western part of NAFO area 4S. The pilot project will provide cod migration data, fish mortality rate (or exploitation rate) and will confirm the mortality rate among fish handled during tagging. Information about exploitation rate informs cod stock assessments which in turn inform the stock recovery plan. The data collected include catch characteristics such as date, coordinates, length, weight, and fishing gear, and information on other parameters, including migration, growth, and condition. The industry and DFO are performing the work at sea and DFO is monitoring tag returns and analysing the exploitation rate data. The results will be integrated into the next stock assessment and will be published by DFO’s Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat.

Program Name

Fisheries Science Collaborative Program (FSCP)

Year(s)

2017 - 2019

Ecoregion(s)

Atlantic

Principal Investigator(s)

Claude Brassard
DFO Quebec

Co-leader(s)

Jean-Pierre Couillard
Director, Association des capitaines propriétaires de la Gaspésie (ACPG)