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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 2
October 2005
Assessment scientists report good, bad news about groundfish stocks
PROVIDENCE, RI – Many fishermen now know that the severity of next year’s groundfish regulations will directly reflect stock status results from the 2005 Groundfish Assessment Review Meeting (GARM).
The GARM recently updated the status of 19 groundfish stocks and released its final report the second week of September.
“It’s a mixed bag of both good and bad,” said Paul Rago of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, who presented the GARM results to the council at its Sept. 13-15 meeting in Providence. “We’ll see some of the causes for concern and the signs of promise here.”
According to Rago, the GARM “in no way” attempted to evaluate the success or failure of management measures in Amendment 13. In fact, the GARM only updated landings, discard, and survey data from 2002 through 2004, covering merely three-quarters of a year under Amendment 13, which began on May 1, 2004.
During this latest assessment – the first significant update since 2001 – the GARM found some welcome trends in the fishery. Most importantly, fishing mortality went down for 13 stocks by an average of 50 percent. The GARM also found evidence of rebuilding in six stocks, which, on average, experienced a 50 percent increase in biomass.
However, the GARM discovered that overfishing was still taking place on eight stocks as of the end of 2004, and assessment scientists reported a “lack of rebuilding” in many stocks, including the cod stocks.
The council will use the GARM information to fine-tune fishing effort in Framework Adjustment 42. The framework is the biennial adjustment to the groundfish plan called for in Amendment 13.
Trouble spots
Although a biennial adjustment gives the council a chance to ease up on restrictions when stocks are in good shape, it’s clear that won’t be the case this time around.
Many stocks are still above their Amendment 13 fishing mortality targets and below their biomass targets, even some that have shown significant improvement.
Three stocks in particular will force the council’s hand in Framework 42.
These are Gulf of Maine cod, Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine yellowtail flounder, and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder. The fishing mortality rate on these three stocks by the end of 2004 was “about three times the Amendment 13 targets” set for them in fishing years 2004 and 2005, reported the GARM.
As for Gulf of Maine cod, the GARM’s “initial estimation” of the 2003 year class “suggests it may be the largest since the 1987 year class.” However, the 2000 year class turned out to be “by far the lowest in the entire” time series.
The GARM said 2004 fishing mortality on Gulf of Maine cod “increased sharply” because the age four and age five fish that supported the fishery in 2004 were from the “very poor” 1999 and 2000 year classes.
Yellowtail, pollock
As for Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine yellowtail, the GARM reported that “age-one recruitment decreased to the lowest in the time series in 2002 and 2003, and spawning stock biomass decreased to 1,100 metric tons in 2004,” a very low level.
Stocks in the best shape were pollock, redfish, Gulf of Maine winter flounder, witch flounder (grey sole), and Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank windowpane. None of these stocks was overfished, and overfishing was not occurring.
The GARM included updated information about the status of three major Georges Bank stocks – cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder. These assessments were conducted by the US/Canada Transboundary Resource Assessment Committee.
Georges Bank yellowtail was determined to be overfished with overfishing occurring. The council will need to develop a formal rebuilding program for the stock in Framework 42.
Fish losing weight
Rago said the GARM noted a trend that was causing concern among scientists.
The average weight of fish from several groundfish stocks was decreasing. The decrease was particularly evident for Georges Bank cod and Georges Bank haddock, as well as Gulf of Maine winter flounder and witch flounder.
About witch flounder, Rago said, “The average eight-year-old is now what the average seven-year-old was 10 years ago.”
GARM scientists said the cause of the problem was unclear and beyond the scope of the GARM’s charge. But Rago said potential causes could be: environmental change; density dependence relationships; earlier maturation or genetic selection; or a combination of factors.
“It occurs for stocks at both high and low abundance,” said Rago. “It has important implications for management.”
He said lower-weight fish could lead to lower yields, slower rebuilding, and possible changes to rebuilding targets when the stocks are re-evaluated again in 2008.
Copies of the GARM report, which is over 500 pages long, can be downloaded off the web at <www.nefsc.noaa.gov/groundfish>.
Janice M. Plante
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