2007 Survey of the Recreational Cod Fishery of Newfoundland and Labrador
Fishing Effort
The 2007 recreational cod fishery was open for a total of 35 days (July 25 to August 19; September 29 to October 7). Overall, anglers fished what might be considered a low 4.1 days on average over the season (Table 10). The lowest average number of days fished was by anglers living in the West NL-N. Peninsula area of the province. Those anglers residing in the Bonavista-Trinity area fished the highest average number of days, at 4.7 days per angler.
As would be expected, anglers who lived on the Avalon Peninsula spent the highest number of days fishing for cod, totalling over 124,000 days. The next highest number of days fished was by anglers residing in the Central-NE Coast area. The average number of days fished by anglers residing in three residence areas, Avalon Peninsula, Burin-South Coast and Central-NE Coast were all the same; all fished the provincial average of 4.1 days.
| Residence area | Days fished | Average days fished | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| < 16 | 16 + | Total | < 16 | 16 + | Total | |
| Avalon Peninsula | 9,626 | 114,677 | 124,303 | 2.8 | 4.2 | 4.1 |
| Burin-South Coast | 1,662 | 20,335 | 21,998 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 4.1 |
| West NL- N. Peninsula | 2,280 | 20,137 | 22,416 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| Central-NE Coast | 5,207 | 62,629 | 67,836 | 2.7 | 4.3 | 4.1 |
| Bonavista-Trinity | 3,040 | 52,121 | 55,161 | 2.6 | 4.9 | 4.7 |
| Labrador | 826 | 7,700 | 8,526 | 3 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| Total | 22,641 | 277,599 | 300,240 | 2.8 | 4.2 | 4.1 |
Overall angling pressure was greatest in NAFO sub-division 3L, where anglers spent a total of over 175,000 days fishing in 2007 (Table 11). Their fishing effort in this sub-division, on average 4.3 days, exceeded the provincial average of 4.1 days. The lowest number of days fished were in NAFO sub-division 2J, with just over 3,000 days being fished, or an average of 2.7 days per angler.
| NAFO sub-division | Days fished | Average days fished | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| < 16 | 16 + | Total | < 16 | 16 + | Total | |
| 2J | 294 | 2,770 | 3,065 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 2.7 |
| 3K | 5,405 | 69,933 | 75,338 | 2.5 | 4.2 | 4 |
| 3L | 13,290 | 162,115 | 175,404 | 2.9 | 4.5 | 4.3 |
| 3Pn | 328 | 3,777 | 4,105 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| 3Ps | 1,611 | 23,151 | 24,762 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 3.8 |
| 4R | 1,713 | 15,853 | 17,567 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| Total | 22,641 | 277,599 | 300,240 | 2.8 | 4.2 | 4.1 |
As can be seen in Figure 3, just over 18,000, or 27.8% of the adult angling population, fished for just one day in the 2007 recreational cod fishery. The numbers of anglers fishing 2 days through 5 days fell off from almost 11,000 fishing for 2 days to almost 5,600. Almost 10,000 anglers fished between 6 and 10 days each, while another almost 4,850 anglers fished for 11 days or more. The highest number of days fished by any angler in the 2007 recreational cod fishery was 20 days.
Figure 3: Distribution of days fished for cod by number of participating adult anglers.
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