1 About this document
This is a prototype of an automatic report that documents how the user specified the operating model and their various justifications.
2 Introduction
- Describe the history and current status of the fishery, including fleets, sectors, vessel types and practices/gear by vessel type, landing ports, economics/markets, whether targeted/bycatch, other stocks caught in the fishery. Within the management unit 3NOPs4VWX5Zc, which encompasses the Scotian Shelf and southern Grand Banks, halibut is fished mostly along the edges of the continental shelf mainly by longliners using bottom hook-and-line gear. On the Scotian Shelf and the southern Grand Banks most of the landed halibut is from a directed longline halibut fishery. Halibut is also landed by other longline, trawl, gill net and handline fisheries
Until 1988, the halibut fishery was unregulated. In 1988, a total allowable catch (TAC) of 3,200 t was set for 3NOPs4VWX5Zc. The TAC was reduced to 1500 t in 1994, and was further reduced to 850 t in 1995. In 1999, recommendations made by the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (FRCC) resulted in an increase in the TAC from 850 to 1000 t. Annual TACs have increased several times since 2000. Since 1994, management plans and license conditions require the release of halibut less than 81 cm. Average landings from 1960 to 2007 for this region have been approximately 1800 t annually, with a range of just under 1000 to approximately 4200 t. The management units 3NOPs4VWX5Zc and 4RST were established in 1987, based primarily on tagging studies demonstrating that halibut are highly mobile (McCracken 1958, Bowering 1986, Stobo et al. 1988).
Describe the stock’s ecosystem functions, dependencies, and habitat types. Atlantic halibut are distributed widely throughout the northern Atlantic. In the northwestern Atlantic, populations are found from the coast of Virginia to as far north as the Arctic Circle. Significant numbers swim off the coasts of Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and Nova Scotia. In the northeast, Atlantic halibut range from the Bay of Biscay to Spitsbergen and the Barents Sea. Atlantic halibut are fished commercially.
Provide all relevant reference materials, such as assessments, research, and other analysis. https://dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/profiles-profils/atl-halibut-fletan-atl-eng.html
3 Fishery Characteristics
3.1 Longevity
| Answered |
|---|
| Very short-lived (5 < maximum age < 7) |
| Short-lived (7 < maximum age < 10) |
| Moderate life span (10 < maximum age < 20) |
| Moderately long-lived (20 < maximum age < 40) |
| Long-lived (40 < maximum age < 80) |
| Very long-lived (80 < maximum age < 160) |
| Justification |
|---|
| A new statistical catch at length (SCAL) model was used to assess the stock status of Atlantic Halibut and the impact of the fishery on biomass/population trends. SCAL model estimates of spawning stock biomass (SSB) between 1970 and 2013 indicate that the halibut stock has increased from the depleted state of the early 1990s to the present. The spawning stock biomass in 2013 is estimated to be 6,668 (SE=234) mt; the highest in the time series (http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/mpo-dfo/Fs70-6-2015-012-eng.pdf) |
3.2 Stock depletion
| Answered |
|---|
| Crashed (D < 0.05) |
| Very depleted (0.05 < D < 0.1) |
| Depleted (0.1 < D < 0.15) |
| Moderately depleted (0.15 < D < 0.3) |
| Healthy (0.3 < D < 0.5) |
| Underexploited (0.5 < D) |
| Justification |
|---|
| A new statistical catch at length (SCAL) model was used to assess the stock status of Atlantic Halibut and the impact of the fishery on biomass/population trends. SCAL model estimates of spawning stock biomass (SSB) between 1970 and 2013 indicate that the halibut stock has increased from the depleted state of the early 1990s to the present. The spawning stock biomass in 2013 is estimated to be 6,668 (SE=234) mt; the highest in the time series (http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/mpo-dfo/Fs70-6-2015-012-eng.pdf) |
3.3 Resilence
| Answered |
|---|
| Not resilient (steepness < 0.3) |
| Low resilience (0.3 < steepness < 0.5) |
| Moderate resilence (0.5 < steepness < 0.7) |
| Resilient (0.7 < steepness < 0.9) |
| Very Resilient (0.9 < steepness) |
| Justification |
|---|
| The stock-recruit relationship for halibut could not be well described by the more commonly used models; therefore, interim reference points were chosen (http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/mpo-dfo/Fs70-6-2015-012-eng.pdf) |