Proceedings 2016/031

Proceedings of the Northern Cod Framework Review Meeting ; November 30 – December 4, 2015

Chairperson: Don Power
Editor:Emilie Novaczek

Summary

The Northern Cod Framework Meeting was held November 30‑December 4, 2015 in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL).  The goal of the Framework was to determine which data sets and models will be considered at the March 2016 Regional Peer Review (RPR) as a basis for providing management advice.  Management advice was beyond the scope of the framework meeting.  Participants included representatives from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) – Science and Fisheries Management Branches, NL Region, Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), the Fish Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW), and four invited reviewers:

1. Dr. Joanna Mills-Flemming, Associate Professor of Statistics, Dalhousie University (Halifax, Canada);
2. Dr. Anders Nielsen, Senior Research Scientist, National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU Aqua, Copenhagen, Denmark);
3. Dr. Chris Legault, Supervisory Research Fishery Biologist, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, Woods Hole, United States); and
4. Dr. Doug Swain, Research Scientist, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Moncton, Canada).

Various data sets were reviewed, with participants and reviewers providing input on which data are appropriate for a stock assessment model.  One dataset, from the offshore acoustic biomass surveys conducted by the Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research (CFER) of the Marine Institute of MUN, involved questions beyond the scope of this meeting and has been recommended for further peer review.  Two models were presented to the meeting: the Northern Cod Assessment Model (NCAM) and Statistical Catch at Age (SCA) model.  NCAM was custom built for the Northern cod stock and includes inputs from a wide number of data sources, including tag data.  As presented, the meeting participants were confident that NCAM could be applied to the 2016 Northern cod stock assessment.  The SCA model, a more simple and standard approach, would also be acceptable for use in this assessment if concerns with the residual patterns were addressed.  A bioenergetics model was also presented that provides a possible explanation for trends in natural mortality estimated in the NCAM and SCA models.

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